A World Without Heroes: Redemption
by andrella07
Summary: Sequel to AWWH.  Alice thought she would be content with her simple life of love and family in Alaska, but the guilt is getting to be too much.  Redemption just might cost her everything.
1. A Day in the Life

**A World Without Heroes: Redemption**

**Andrella07**

**Disclaimer: I own this! OMG! I'm gonna make a movie with Milla and Ali, and then a video game based on the movie, then I'm gonna make sequels, and prequels, and get rich, and ...yeah, I don't own this. Don't sue me.**

**Reviews: Save lives.**

**Rated M for dark themes, language, and (I think) sexuality... though why that needs to be said is ridiculous. If you have problems with two chicks in love (or even two guys for that matter) - then go away.**

**Huge shout-out to my beta, Cantholdon, who (in case you didn't know) is more awesome than shotguns of evil.**

**So, who has missed me? I've missed you all terribly. I hope you're at least as excited as I am for the start of the next Evil Alice journey. Just like AWWH I promise length, angst, love, and gore. Please enjoy and never forget - it's always blue for the virus. ;)**

Chapter 1: A Day in the Life

Before the outbreak Alice had a chance to save the world from the deadly practices of a powerful corporation, but she failed and her actions put it in jeopardy. Then Dr. Isaacs turned her into the very weapon that could destroy Umbrella, but she failed again.

Finally two survivors, a fiery redhead and her silent charge, gave her the chance to be the hero she'd forgotten she had the potential to be.

Then Alice had an idea. It was stupid, brash, and seriously suicidal.

_Just might be crazy enough to work…_

The brunette brought the axe back and started another downward swing. The heavy wedge cut the wood with a sharp crack of sound that echoed in the woods behind her. The separated pieces of oak fell into the snow, and Alice bent to pick up the next log to split. She carried on like a machine as the gears in her head continued to turn.

Alice struck another piece although the pile at her feet was beyond what she needed to do for the day. She held the axe over her shoulder again ready for another blow.

"Easy there, Alice."

The brunette startled, completely missing the log, but only narrowly missing her foot. "Fuck!" She looked at the redhead who'd interrupted her. "Shit, Claire!"

Claire chuckled as she walked closer. "Sorry."

Alice blew the apology off. "It's not fucking funny."

The brunette didn't know how much longer she could take this. Being a mere shadow of her former superhuman self was aggravating. She disliked being tired and hungry; loathed the absence of her speed, strength, and mental ability; was afraid of not being able to sense the undead; and hated that paranoia drove her every action though it didn't always keep things like Claire from surprising her.

The redhead cocked her head to the side as she placed a hand on Alice's shoulder. "I really am sorry."

Alice sighed, and her warm breath came out as a white fog in the frozen air. "I hate this."

"You've only been without your powers for a couple months; it's going to take time to get used to."

The brunette looked down at her feet trying to hide the fact that she was not ashamed of what she was about to say.

"Is it bad if I don't want to get used to it?"

Claire removed her hand and stared off in contemplation. Alice already knew what was going through her head. This was always what they fought about. The redhead was happy with Alice's humanity; the brunette stated often that she was not.

The redhead deflected the question with practiced ease. "I think you've got enough wood there for a few days, don't you?"

Alice shut her eyes for a second in annoyance and dropped the axe. She put her right finger and thumb in her mouth and let out a fierce whistle. The Saint Bernard came running, and Alice didn't give Claire a second glance as she left with Paco at her side.

The brunette was fuming. She checked the handgun on her waist as she walked down the wooded trail. It was Alice's habit to leave when she felt angry, and the growing dog always accompanied her. He was building his stamina right along with his bulk, yet the pup was a gangly fool. Still he was loyal, smart, and always seemed to know when Alice needed him most.

She looked at her watch. **1:40 PM**. After breaking her last one in a drunken rage she found another in town and was too tempted to pass it up. Though the compulsion was not near as bad, it was still there.

The three survivors gathered everything they could use from the abandoned town nearby. It was surprisingly well-stocked with supplies, but then it would have to be. Before the outbreak, Alaskan towns had to have extra of everything in case the planes carrying new goods couldn't make the treacherous journey. This was no country for the weak of heart. Alice felt at home here, especially in the snow.

The frozen world around her reminded the brunette of the winters she spent in her home state of Michigan. Growing up she never had anything other than white Christmases and roaring fires.

Her boots kicked a trail in the snow that Paco was happy to follow with boyish glee. He nipped at the back of her heels and ran away from her when she paused. The pup enjoyed the game, and Alice had to admit she was enjoying it too.

She took a long breath as she looked around. Alice identified the trees that usually signaled her turn around. She wasn't sure if she was ready to return, but she couldn't stop her mind from replaying a powerful memory. It was the one where she realized that she loved Claire; the very same drunken episode that cost her a watch. The redhead however would not be following her now. She never followed her when Alice left like this.

She checked the time again. **3:21 PM**. The sun would be setting very soon. Alaskan winter days were much shorter than anything she was used to, but the dark wasn't so bad. At least the moon could reflect off the snow and light her way wherever she needed to go. She knew she had to go back, but not until she finally understood why she was upset with Claire.

They'd been through so much and in a very short amount of time. The redhead could be hard to read, stubborn to a fault, and temperamental, but she was also compassionate, strong, and warm. Claire didn't hold Alice responsible for the outbreak, and it was that simple fact that spurred so much of the brunette's wrath.

If there was nothing to be blamed for – then there was no cause for redemption.

That was it; that was why she was upset. Alice could truly live without her powers if she was forced to. A life without redemption, even a happy one with Claire, would always have that tinge of guilt just poisonous enough to kill her internally. Humanity always had its price.

It was now that Alice's previous insane notion came to play in her thoughts again. If she could just get some of her power back, she could help the survivors she knew were still out there. With a perceptive smirk she thought of the other act where her superhuman self would come in handy – dealing with Umbrella. She wanted to take that corporation down once and for all. Revenge had been sweet before. There was no doubt that it would be sweet again.

_How much would it take? _Alice began to pace next to a lofty Sitka Spruce. The snow compacted beneath her boots as Paco sat and began to pant.

She turned and looked at the dog. "What do you think Paco? One, maybe two? Maybe more…"

The Saint Bernard lifted his large ears but couldn't give her the answer she required. The only man who would really have any idea was dead. Isaacs, the _good_ doctor, had been the father of her unique blood, but giving up on her humanity because of it – was all Alice.

Her DNA was still altered though her powers were diminishing to the point that it caused her physical pain to apply her focus on anything larger than a handgun, and it always had to be within arm's reach.

Alice's martial skill was learned so at least that couldn't be taken away from her. Her impressive physique hadn't changed much either for the simple fact that the brunette worked out every day, but still her strength was greatly lessened.

The brunette felt a twinge in her left shoulder so she stopped pacing to rub it away. Her bullet wound was long gone, and there was no remaining damage. The ache she felt wasn't from corporeal pain – it was guilt. Plain and simple.

The sun was dipping below the horizon, and Alice still hadn't started walking back. Paco whined; the dog really didn't like the dark. He slept with K every single night.

"Come on Paco," Alice called softly. "Let's go home."

The walk back was cold; the temperature had dropped below zero degrees long ago. She opened the door to let Paco in, and he bolted. The pup was so eager to be out of the dark that he slipped on the wooden floor from his wet paws. Alice let out a low chuckle at the sight and then turned around. She still had wood to stack before she turned in.

The brunette knew she should wait until tomorrow when the sun would be out, and it would be warmer, but she didn't want to go inside. Claire and K-mart were likely making dinner with Paco doing everything in his power to get their attention focused on him instead.

Alice stacked the wood with the rest of the pile outside the house, and then covered it with a worn tarp when she was done.

No one was waiting up for her when she finally entered the cabin. Her entire body was numb with chill though she'd been completely outfitted for the snow. Alice always pushed herself further than she should. It was the only thing she had to compensate for what she lacked, and it often crossed the line into self-destruction.

She had kept true to her word in at least one respect. Alice hadn't had one drink since, but it was nights like this one that reminded her of the ignorant bliss she was missing. The brunette dressed down to her black pants and thin shirt. She placed her handgun in her waistband, and then walked to the woodstove in the living room. After pulling a log from the top of the pile next to it, she kneeled and opened the heated glass door to set the wood in the dying fire. The oxygen and replenished fuel brought the flames to life.

Alice knew what she should do next. She shut the woodstove door and rose back to her feet. The brunette was hungry, but she had no appetite for food. Instead she walked back to the bedroom she shared with Claire. She stood in the doorway for a moment taking in the sight of Claire lying in bed.

The woman's chest rose and fell, but it was not the deep breathing that signaled her sleep. Alice wasn't surprised to know that the redhead was still awake. She crossed over to the mattress, put her gun under her pillow, and then pulled back the blankets to slip inside. Alice lay on her back, between Claire and the door. If anything ever came through it that wasn't K or Paco, Alice would be first to meet it. She stared up at the ceiling, and the woman shifted beside her. Claire placed her head on Alice's shoulder and her arm around the brunette's mid-section. Alice let her hand rest on Claire's shoulder. It was a silent apology to each other, and it was accepted by both of them.

Claire's voice broke the quiet. "Did you eat anything?"

"No," Alice whispered.

The redhead didn't respond she just snuggled closer into Alice. Tomorrow, the brunette knew, she would have to tell Claire of her plan. She would not be pleased so Alice decided to make up for that right now.

She turned her head and lifted Claire's chin with her hand to kiss her soundly. The redhead rose to the occasion with stirring passion. Alice felt Claire's lips press harder into her own as the redhead maneuvered herself to lie completely on top of her. Alice let her hands go to work on Claire's willing form as the redhead moaned. She rolled Claire over in the bed and began to strip her as the redhead did the same to Alice until the only pieces of warm fabric left were the blankets on top of them and the sheet beneath.

Claire moaned again as she bit into her own wrist when Alice's fingers blazed a trail from her taught abdomen to her sensitive core. The brunette drank in the sound and used it to fuel her own desire. She worked Claire hard, never letting the redhead be without some reason to whimper and beg in escalating pleasure. Several long minutes later the redhead didn't cascade over the edge – she plummeted, calling out Alice's name loud enough for the brunette to know that climax was reached but not so loud that it would wake the house; namely K-mart.

Her goal met, Alice was happy to feel Claire cuddle up to her as the redhead's breathing and heartbeat began to settle.

"Claire…I love you. Don't ever doubt that."

The redhead didn't answer right away, but when she did Alice heard worry in her voice.

"I love you too."

_Alice sat on the operation table, like she did every time Isaacs came for her. This time however she was fully clothed in her regular, black apparel. _

"_Project Alice," he greeted. "You're back."_

"_I'm not," she answered and tried to jump down from the metal slab, but she couldn't move. Everything but her face was frozen. She glanced around the antiseptic white room._

_Dr. Isaacs readied a needle, pulling fluid into it from a container on the table next to him. He held the syringe up, and the tiny needle caught in the light. Alice knew her human senses never would've been able to catch that tiny detail, and it made her swallow nervously._

"_It will never work, you know?" he commented as he flicked the vial of the syringe to knock off an air bubble. Alice had no idea what he was talking about, but he continued and the familiar British accent tickled her ears. "My serum is too strong."_

_Isaacs walked up to her; suddenly she was naked. He took a hold of her arm though she tried to pull back from his cold, unprotected hands. The doctor pierced her flesh with the tip and pushed the plunger down with his thumb. Alice expected pain to follow. She was certain her veins would catch fire when he withdrew the needle, but nothing happened._

_Dr. Isaacs's eyebrows drew together. "Interesting…"_

_His gaze left her body to focus on a spot behind her. Alice didn't need to look to know what he saw. Her blood began to sing, but she still couldn't move. Air shifted around her neck, the breath neither cold nor warm. A sharp, tearing feeling abruptly developed in her skin. The building pressure of solid bone ripping into her muscles caused hot blood to spill down her collarbone and back._

_Alice screamed._


	2. Tis the Season

**Thank you all for the reviews I've gotten! **

Chapter 2: 'Tis the Season

"_Alice…Alice…Alice, wake up."_

The brunette's eyes shot open. Everything was dark, and Claire was gripping her shoulder. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears and she was panting, but there was no danger. The redhead released her shoulder but rubbed her fingers gently up and down Alice's naked arm.

"Are you ok?"

The brunette swallowed as she tried to instill some manner of calm back into her system. She didn't answer Claire; she almost never did after waking from a nightmare. Sometimes she wouldn't speak for days. Alice was traumatized by her time on the _Arcadia. _Being tortured by a sadist for the pursuit of science drove her to vivid nightmares, uncontrollable flashbacks that brought about rage, and silence.

She couldn't let any of that happen to her now. Claire would never let her leave if she seemed anything other than fine.

Alice smiled falsely. "I'm alright."

Even in the low light, Alice could see Claire's auburn eyebrows come together in uncertainty, but when she remained firm with her reassurance, Claire gave in with a true smile of her own.

The redhead kissed the corner of her mouth and started to rise from the bed. It was still dark out, but Alice pulled her watch from the nightstand next to the bed. The device read **7:23 AM**.

"I'm making breakfast," Claire said; then added firmly, "and you're eating this time."

The brunette smirked at her stubbornness. "Yes ma'am."

Claire turned away to get dressed, and Alice looked down in shame. She hated lying to Claire, but it was for her benefit.

Breakfast was a simple affair of preserves and though Alice still had no appetite, she ate every bite with more enthusiasm than usual. K was happy to see everyone in such a good mood. The teen often forced herself between Claire and Alice as a kind of buffer. It was like she took it on herself to fix their every problem, and Alice would've sworn the teen knew they were fighting before she did. It would be no simple task to convince the girl to leave so the brunette could talk to Claire.

"Hey K-mart," Alice called.

"Yeah?"

"I'd like you to check the traps by yourself today."

Normally Alice and K-mart would scout the line together. They usually didn't get much, just the occasional rabbit or other small creature, but it was always just enough to keep red meat in their diet.

The teen's eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion, but she surrendered just the same.

"Sure thing, Alice."

K-mart left with Paco not long after, and Alice walked into the living room to find Claire sitting on the floor sewing up a hole in one of her shirts. The brunette took a breath and brought forward her resolve, but the redhead spoke before she had the chance to.

"What's up?"

"I'm leaving tomorrow."

Claire set down her project.

"What?"

Alice tilted her chin up. "I have to."

The woman shook her head in disbelief. "What? Where are you going? _Why_?"

The brunette dropped her gaze; she was already feeling the pressure of Claire's pain.

"I can't live like this anymore," Alice said honestly. "I know there are still survivors out there, and I have to help them."

Claire rose from her spot on the floor and walked up to Alice.

"You can't just leave," Claire said. Alice could see she was trying not to get angry, but she wasn't entirely successful. "It's the middle of winter for fuck's sake." The redhead kept up her disagreement, and her fury grew still. "You're not invincible anymore, Alice. What do you think you can do, hu? You have _no_ powers-"

"I aim to fix that," Alice interrupted.

Claire laughed with astonishment. "So, that's what this is about. You just want your powers back."

Alice hadn't thought of it that way, but that didn't stop the ounce of truth from existing in Claire's words.

The redhead crossed her arms over her chest. "And how are you going to _fix_ that?"

"I just have to find something infected-"

Suddenly K-mart appeared in the room. She was every bit as upset as Claire.

"Alice, you can't just go and let yourself get bit. That's insane!"

"Oh, like you can talk!" Claire interjected.

"I _can_ talk, thank you very much!" K shot back.

As amused as Alice was by the angry banter it wasn't very productive. She intervened before Claire could provide another argument.

"For all I know it may not even work," she said, and Claire met her eyes. The green was tempered with rage and resolution.

"The answer is no."

"I wasn't asking for permission," the brunette replied steadily.

The teen walked straight to Alice, putting herself between the brunette and Claire.

"Alice, listen to me," she pleaded calmly. "I think I understand why you feel like you have to try and help, but you don't."

Alice gave the girl her confession. "You don't understand. Neither of you could possibly understand. I owe the world this."

K backed off when Claire placed a hand on her shoulder. Now Alice was face to face with the redhead. She was much more relaxed, but her eyes still spoke of her determination.

"You don't owe the world anything," she said to the brunette. "You owe _me_."

Alice's shoulders fell as the tension left her muscles in submission. Claire was right; she was indebted to her first and foremost.

"But I know you're not happy here," the redhead continued. "If saving the world is what you're driven to do…then I'm coming with."

K-mart shouted behind them with zeal. "Me too!"

The redhead still wasn't finished, so Alice listened.

"At least, give us this winter here. We can leave in spring."

One season of safety was all Claire was asking. While it would delay her plans, it was a request she could and even wanted to grant. Alice nodded, and Claire let out a defeated sigh. The redhead walked away, leaving Alice with K-mart as Paco ambled over to the teen.

When Claire was out of earshot K-mart voiced a question with slight apprehension.

"What about me?"

Alice raised an eyebrow. "You really think we'd leave you and Paco behind?"

The teen shook her head.

"Good. Now if I recall correctly _someone_ was supposed to be checking the traps…"

K bent her head, but Alice just smiled at her shadow. She should've known the teen would not follow the order so easily. She should've known Claire would not go with her plan.

"Let's go," Alice said as she looked wistfully back to where the redhead had departed to.

Alice picked up her rifle from its spot leaning near the door after dressing for the cold. K was already set to go, and Paco wagged his tail listlessly as he waited. It didn't take the trio long to run the line, mostly because it was empty of prey. On their way back to the cabin the air was filled with silence and falling snow; the correlation between them both weighed on Alice. She could feel herself falling into guilt as her thoughts echoed into the quiet atmosphere around her.

_I blew humanity's only chance for real survival into oblivion. How much of it was to keep two people safe? How much was it to get revenge?_

Alice kept walking not really paying attention to where they were going; K-mart and Paco would not let them wander.

_Just who was I getting revenge on? _Again the word 'humanity' came to mind.

Abruptly Paco's ears perked and he jerked his head up to the left of them. Alice caught the dog's move and looked in the same direction as did K-mart. About fifty yards out and moving through a stand of trees was a deer. The brunette brought her rifle up to rest in the crook of her shoulder as she aimed. K-mart and Paco watched in absolute hush.

Alice looked through her sight at a magnified image of the doe. She considered briefly letting the animal continue on its way, but it wasn't every day they came upon so much meat. Their survival had to come first. She inhaled as she lined up the back dot with the space just behind the deer's foreleg. The creature was completely unaware that it was drawing in its final breath.

She exhaled and lightly squeezed the trigger. The first sense assaulted was her hearing as the noise of the shot crashed into her ears. The doe bolted, but only made it a few yards before collapsing into the snow. Alice lowered the gun and began to walk forward with intent. She couldn't say why, but somehow killing the animal played more deeply on her soul than any other time before. She understood the need to eat; to kill or be killed; to take or be taken from. The deer was just another piece to their survival, and yet it was more. They were connected.

Alice took out her knife quickly in case the animal was suffering. By the time she got there, it was already dead; hers was a shot through the heart.

The brunette field dressed the animal, removing the organs they wouldn't need and would only add weight to what had to be carried back. All told, Alice was looking to cart back about 100 pounds of meat. She could've cut it in pieces and made trips or had K help, but she was looking forward to some hard work. Dragging dead weight through a near foot of snow would be just that, but they weren't too far from the cabin.

By the end of it, Alice was sweating beneath all her heavy winter clothes. She was exhausted, but it was a pleasant kind of wear on her muscles. The teen helped her finish the job as they butchered the carcass into sizeable chunks and moved the meat to the underground ice chest to preserve it. It was bloody work, but it would feed them well for some time.

Days passed until they turned into weeks, but before a month could be counted K-mart approached Alice as the brunette shoveled a new path to the garage.

"Hey Alice," she called.

"What's up K?"

The brunette stopped shoveling and rested her hands on the handle of the shovel, then her chin on top of her hands in a relaxed pose.

"You know what tomorrow is, don't you?"

Alice pursed her eyebrows. Truthfully she had no idea. She wasn't even sure if she could tell K-mart the year.

"Saturday?" she guessed.

"No! It's Christmas Eve!"

_Christmas? _

"How do you even know that?" Alice asked, surprised.

The teen shrugged. "I just keep track."

The brunette lifted herself off the shovel and scratched the back of her neck as she thought again. _Christmas…what the fuck am I going to do knowing that?_

"Thanks K," she said as she began to shovel the snow again.

Alice thought all day. Her chores were mostly kept to the backburner as she tried to make sense of what knowing it was about to be Christmas was supposed to mean. She wanted to do something for the survivors, but presents would be pointless. The brunette couldn't get them anything frivolous, and practicality was out of the question as well.

Claire didn't avoid Alice since their argument, but she didn't seek her out either. The redhead was taking their leaving hard, and the brunette knew it would take something special to get her mind off it.

It was Christmas Eve before Alice finally figured out what she was going to do. She told Claire and K that she was going ice fishing and probably wouldn't be back before nightfall. The survivors accepted her story without a single hitch.

The brunette walked to the garage where the Hummer was parked for winter and where their snowmobile was kept. She gathered some of the fishing gear and the snow shovel, and placed the items in the saddlebags on the back of the vehicle. Then she lifted her hood over her head as she sat on the leather seat. Alice started the vehicle with ease and drove towards the frozen lake. Once she was out of the sight of the cabin she turned to go towards town.

It took Alice rummaging through a few houses before she had what she needed. She was back on the snowmobile and driving to the lake not long after.

It was almost midnight when she finally returned to the cabin. Alice was tired but happy. She'd accomplished her task and tomorrow she'd wrestle Claire and K-mart out into the cold if need be. Like every night Claire beat her to bed, Alice stood in their doorway and leaned against the frame for a moment. The redhead was asleep, and she seemed so at peace. It made the brunette question her decision. She didn't want Claire and K to come for the simple fact that they could be hurt. Even with their immunity the world outside their haven in Alaska was a deadly place.

The brunette sighed as she walked up to the bed. She got in and laid down facing Claire. The redhead was still asleep. Alice kissed her lightly on the forehead, and then shut her cobalt blue eyes.

"_You'll get them killed."_

"_I won't," Alice replied. She couldn't place the voice. It was familiar but not; like a shadow without a form to follow it. The brunette heard the voice again, this time behind her._

"_I know you better."_

_She turned on her heel to stand face to face with a blonde version of herself. The clone had dark shadows hiding her eyes from the hood over her face. Suddenly Alice noticed where they were. The sinister stone walls housed a large bell and an uncovered window to the night air. Claire was standing on the windowsill looking down as the breeze blew her red hair back._

_Her copy walked to the woman, and Claire turned her head to face the blonde._

"_I'm scared Alice."_

_Alice tried to go to her as well, but she was frozen in place. The replica smiled up at Claire, her white teeth glistening in the dim light. She stepped up behind the redhead on the small perch and wrapped her arms around Claire's waist. Alice took a breath of relief. She'd been so afraid Claire would jump. The redhead placed her arms over the ones on her midsection and titled her head back to capture the blonde Alice's lips. Her copy was forceful in returning the affection, but it seemed to only turn Claire on even more._

_Alice felt a ghost of the touch grace her own mouth. The blonde woman smirked again as she ended the kiss, and then spoke to the redhead._

"_Do you believe in _me_, Claire?" _

_The brunette's stomach dropped when she heard those words. The version of herself holding Claire pushed her forward, and the redhead fell out of the church window screaming._

Alice woke with tears in her eyes to an empty bed. She sat up and wiped the liquid away quickly as the image of herself pushing Claire to her death replayed in her mind. Paco nudged the bedroom door open with his nose and walked over to her. He was finally large enough to get on the bed by himself, so he did so and rested his head in her lap. Alice looked into his chocolate colored eyes and only then did she notice the red bow around his neck. It caused her to smile.

"You poor thing. K must've done that to you."

The brunette scratched around the ribbon and Paco sighed in content. She'd forgotten it was Christmas, but now that she'd been reminded she tucked the dream away. The uneasy feeling in her gut stayed with her though the horrible vision was gone.

Alice dressed for the day and walked into the kitchen to find Claire fixing breakfast. She stood in the entrance thankful to see the redhead was just fine.

Claire reached across the counter for something and must've caught the brunette in the corner of her eye because she immediately turned around in shock. "Shit, Alice!"

"Morning," Alice greeted with an amused grin.

The redhead held up what she'd been reaching for. It was a large butcher knife. Alice swallowed as Claire spoke.

"We really shouldn't surprise each other when there are sharp things around."

Alice laughed as she walked up to Claire and took the redhead in her arms to kiss her.

"How was fishing last night?"

"Good," Alice responded a little too quickly.

Claire raised a skeptic eyebrow. "Really? Then why isn't there any new fish in the ice box?"

The brunette froze as she tried to think of a suitable excuse. Luckily K came to her rescue when she entered the kitchen.

"Merry Christmas Alice!"

Alice smiled softly as she responded, "Merry Christmas K."

The brunette released Claire, and the redhead turned to continue preparing their meal. She decided that was a good time as any to voice her intentions.

"After breakfast I have a surprise for you both."

K was instantly overjoyed, but Claire rotated her head to give Alice a suspicious glance.

"You'll…like it?" Alice tried to cover, but really she had no idea if the redhead would. She wasn't too enthusiastic about things that took place in the cold.

A little less than an hour later, Alice had Claire and K-mart dress for their excursion. She walked out to the garage first and made sure everything was in place on the snowmobile. Alice drove it out front as Claire, K-mart, and Paco walked outside.

"Hop on," she directed.

Claire sat behind her and K behind the redhead. Paco would be forced to run alongside, but they'd made this trip countless times before. When everyone was settled Alice drove them at a leisurely pace to the lake so Paco wouldn't strain himself before the real fun began.

When they stopped and Claire saw their destination she scoffed.

"Fishing, Alice? We're going fishing?"

The brunette shook her head in amusement as she dismounted the vehicle. "Believe me, holes in the ice would not be good for what we're about to do."

Claire raised an eyebrow as K-mart and Paco walked to the edge of the lake. Alice grabbed the items from the saddlebags that she'd gotten the day before. With them in hand, she walked to Claire who was now staring out at the frozen water.

"Here," she tried to hand Claire a pair of white skates, but the redhead balked.

"Oh no, absolutely not."

"It'll be fun," she countered.

Claire continued to shake her head. "No, no, no, _no_."

Alice tried not to laugh as the teen walked back to them.

K's mouth fell open in joy. "Ice skates!"

She rushed Alice for her pair and the brunette smiled at her happiness. This was what Christmas was about.

"You ever skated before?" the brunette question the teen.

"No, but I've always wanted to try."

K walked back to the edge of the lake and sat in the snow as Alice gave her a direction.

"Tie them tight!"

"I will!" K called back.

Alice turned back to the redhead, but she still had a more than stubborn look on her face. Alice took Claire's gloved hand in hers.

"Come on," she said as she led the apprehensive woman to the ice.

The redhead sat next to K with her arms folded over her chest, but Alice was still just trying to hold her laughter back as she lovingly removed Claire's boots and began to fit her for the skates. Alice was just about to the tie the final one when K stood on her blades. The girl was a little wobbly on her feet as she walked onto the ice.

"You got it, K?" the brunette questioned.

She didn't say anything, but she held out her hand to let Alice know she was fine. The brunette turned back to finish getting Claire ready, and then put on her own hockey skates. She watched K-mart take a few unsteady strides forward as the blades caressed the top of the ice with ease. Alice should've known the teen would take to it like she did with her shooting. The girl was a natural.

Alice stood on her skates and held her gloved hand out to Claire. The redhead gave a forced sigh as she took hold of the brunette. Alice pulled her up and the redhead nearly fell into her arms.

"I can't do this Alice. We're not even on the ice yet."

Alice gave her a reassuring smile and the words she knew Claire couldn't resist. "Trust me."

Claire narrowed her eyes. "You would say that."

The brunette's grin grew tenfold in reaction, and then she led Claire out to the cleared ice. Instead of fishing the night before, she'd shoveled them a sizeable rink. K was already lapping it with a huge smile and Paco was running behind her trying to catch her. He wasn't having much luck; neither the nails nor pads of his big feet could get any traction.

Claire gripped her hand tighter when her first skate met the smooth ice. Alice stayed facing the redhead and took her other hand as she began her instruction.

"Alright, keep your knees bent and your balance forward. To skate just put your weight on one foot and push off with the other."

As the redhead listened she loosened her grip on Alice's hands. The brunette slipped out of Claire's hold before she could react.

"Alice!"

"You can do it," she said as she followed her own directions and skated one stride backwards so Claire would have room.

The redhead stared down at her feet, and then tried. Claire slid forward, and then fell off balance. Alice caught her before she could actually fall.

Suddenly K-mart was skating past them. "Way to go, Claire! Maybe by next year you'll actually make it to the other side of the ice!"

Alice laughed at the jibe as Claire yelled at the teen.

"That's it! You're _grounded_!"

K came by for another pass and stayed just out of Claire's reach as she taunted her again.

"Ground me all you want – you still have to catch me first!"

The brunette shook her head in enjoyment. Claire might not be able to catch the teen by the end of the day, but she certainly could. And if that was what the redhead wanted, then she would do it with glee.

Alice released Claire again and this time skated a few more paces back. Claire, driven by K-mart's goading, took to the attempt with stubborn will. She was still a bit unstable, but she was improving. An hour later, Claire finally felt comfortable enough to skate on her own, albeit very slowly. She was nowhere near as confident as the teen, but Alice could tell by the look on her face that she was having fun.

The brunette skated with familiar ease. Not a single Michigan winter had gone by where she didn't spend some time on the ice, but that seemed like several lifetimes ago. It took her back to her time with her family. She could honestly admit that she didn't think of them often; not because it was too painful, but because that person who lived with them was dead. She died a long time ago. Alice had been a daughter, a sister, a niece, and an aunt. Now she didn't know what she was, but she had Claire and K-mart – and they had her.

Suddenly Alice stopped in front of Claire by sharply twisting her skates to the side. Her move sliced off the tiniest layer of ice, and the cold shavings sprayed outward. She'd never admit it, but she was enjoying showing off, especially after she beat K-mart in their race though the teen was given a head start and demanded that Alice skate backwards.

The brunette faced Claire again and grabbed her hands.

"How about a little speed, eh Red?"

"Oh no," Claire stated. "No, I'm good."

Alice shrugged playfully and pulled Claire anyway. The brunette skated backwards as Claire locked her legs. She slowly gained speed as the redhead's eyes got big.

"I swear to God, Alice – if you let me fall I'm going to _kill_ you."

Once Claire had enough momentum to continue going for a ways, Alice let her go and turned around to skate beside her.

Claire was immediately panicked. "You never taught me how to stop!"

The brunette's face fell. _Uh oh. _They were nearing the end of the clean ice, and a large pile of cleared snow awaited the redhead at the end of her flight. But if Claire was going down so was Alice or she'd never hear the end of it. Now really wasn't the time to tell Claire to turn to stop or to point her skates inward because she'd likely just fall face first. Instead she grabbed Claire's hand again and used her own weight to slow them both. She twisted both her skates at the same angle to slow down with a turn, and it caused Claire to whip around just before she collided with the snow bank.

Alice caught the woman in her arms, but the redhead's momentum was still too much. She knocked into Alice, and the brunette fell on her ass with Claire on top of her. Alice met Claire's green eyes and they both broke out into laughter. K-mart could be heard laughing too as Paco ran towards them.

Alice and Claire both turned to see the Saint Bernard coming straight for them.

"Oh shit," the brunette cursed as she braced for the impact. Then Paco barreled into them, causing them to slide a little further across the slick ice. Laughter went into the air again as they all tried to recover.

The group didn't return to the cabin until night began to fall. Paco was dead tired so Alice had to keep the speed of the snowmobile low, but he wasn't the only one. Claire's head was resting on her back, and the redhead's arms were nearly slack around her waist. Alice rubbed her gloved hand over them in contentment as she drove. She silently congratulated herself on giving the two survivors such a good day.

Her mind traveled back to her dream as it started to snow. Alice didn't want to put either of them in danger. If she left tonight neither of them would be able to follow her tracks out. She could take the snowmobile and have at least a six hour start on them. Claire and K could easily walk to town and find another snowmobile to replace this one. But the chance that Claire and K would follow instead of stay was a great one. What if something happened to them and she wasn't around?

Suddenly Claire's arms tightened around her, and she gripped one of Claire's hands firmly in reflex. _I can't leave them behind_, Alice decided._ I need them too much._

**Poor Alice :( that girl is tortured. But hey! A Christmas chapter, how awesome is that? I know it's late, but I hope you guys liked it anyway.**


	3. Spring Equinox

**Who's ready for gore? ;)**

Chapter 3: Spring Equinox

Those days that kept turning into weeks, turned into months – until winter faded into the ground. The snow melted causing the earth to be wet with slick mud, and the days matured in length. The sun was up for nearly ten hours, and the amount of daylight would continue to increase until the spring equinox was reached.

Alice kept expecting undead to arrive with the thaw, but they were never attacked once. The area was so isolated that while it was possible for undead to chance upon them it wasn't very likely.

Winter had been spent surviving, but Alice knew they'd spent it _living _too. As the seasons changed everyone grew silent. They spent a lot of time getting ready, but no time discussing what they were going to do. Alice knew that conversation along with one other had to happen, and soon.

The brunette was cleaning her shotgun for the third time that day – the day before they left – when Claire walked into their bedroom.

"Alice?"

The brunette set down the barrel of the weapon in her lap and looked at the redhead. "What's up?"

"I don't want you to…let yourself become infected."

The brunette sighed – this was the other conversation. She decided to delay it as she'd done before.

"Let's not talk about this now. We need to decide where we're going."

Claire's gaze dropped as she whispered, "Does it really matter?"

The redhead had a point. It truly didn't, so long as they were going.

Alice didn't sleep that night, she couldn't bring herself to close her eyes. All she wanted was to remember how Claire felt as she slept in her arms in their bed. The morning came too soon and not soon enough. Everyone was nervous; even Paco seemed to feel the tension as he jumped into the back of the Hummer with K-mart.

They'd briefly talked about using the Osprey they'd stolen, but the machine had sat all winter in snow and ice. Claire argued that even if they could find more fuel the aircraft would never make it off the ground. They left it in the field where Umbrella came for Alice all those months ago. It had the eerie presence of a grave marker when they finally passed it on their way out of Alaska.

Alice kept them going west; it was like she was being driven by an unconscious force to the desert. They went from one extreme to another in a matter of weeks. Canada seemed to have infected, but no survivors. The United States had infected too, but on their first day in the onetime country they found survivors – and they helped.

The brunette felt her soul lighten up only the smallest amount, but it was a change. The group of five had been fighting off a horde of infected. Alice, Claire, and even K-mart helped them dispatch the undead then they sent them up north. They told them about the infection-free, albeit abandoned, town they'd found in Alaska and encouraged them wholeheartedly to go there. The survivors took to the new hope and left for the haven Alice had just left behind.

The second week in the country they picked up their third transmission. The brunette let the recording play again as Claire drove them to their destination.

"_This is KLKB. We have seven people here in need of urgent medical attention. We need help. This is KLKB. Can anyone hear us? Can anyone help us? Please."_

Everyone was worried about what they'd find, but no one was brave enough to voice it. They'd already chanced upon other survivors too late to be of any use. Sometimes Alice felt more like the doctor that pronounced someone dead than a person who was looking to help.

The weather was much hotter than anything Alice had been used to in a while. The burning star above their heads roasted the desert alive. Tan sand and dirt came to look like gold at high noon when the sunlight reflected off the crystals. Everyone was in clothes more suited to their environment. The brunette hated it, but she even had to give up wearing black. Now she was in a duster that almost acted as camouflage amongst the wasteland, olive green shorts, brown leggings, and a brown shirt over a white cami. She'd switched the positions of her guns as well; two pistols now rested in holsters strapped to her thighs, and she had a container for her shotgun to lie on her back.

The alterations helped her to feel different, but Alice still couldn't stop the notion that she'd never changed at all. New clothes might hide the monster, but they'd never get rid of it. A winter of safety might mean hibernation for the beast, but it always awoke with a hunger like no other.

They passed a sign for the limits of Salt Lake City; the green-painted metal was being eaten away by rust. Claire pulled up to the radio station not long after that, and Alice was the first out after grabbing the holster with her shotgun. She put it on her back, comfortable with the weight it added.

"I think you two should sit this one out," she said from over her shoulder.

Claire seemed to agree to the suggestion because she didn't respond. Alice was thankful. The last place they stopped to help made K sick. Rotted corpses covered in flies and maggots had a tendency to do that.

"If I'm not back in five..." Alice trailed off, the end of her statement more than obvious.

The deteriorating building was dark inside; its grey walls made even more insidious by what Alice could only assume to be symbols and writing painted on in blood. The gut feeling in her stomach screamed trap, and had Alice not been so driven to help she would've immediately turned around and walked away without a backwards glance. Lights flickered, and Alice knew the electricity must've been coming from a generator.

She turned a corner to see a woman sitting in a chair with her back turned to Alice. The brunette heard whimpering come from the woman. She walked forward steadily, never lowering her pistol.

The woman, a mature, overweight blonde, turned her head at the sound of Alice's footsteps.

"My baby – please…Please, help my baby," she implored.

Alice looked in the woman's arms to see a bundle of cloth. She realized the child was more than likely already beyond help, but she approached her anyway. The woman held out the bundle for Alice to take. She could take it with one arm, but she'd need her other hand to unwrap the baby and take a look. The brunette holstered her pistol and reached for the child.

She could already tell by feel that what she had in arms was dead weight. Alice lifted back the grimy blanket to see its face and was met with another sight instead. The baby was actually an old doll.

_Fuck!_

Alice readied to release the dummy and draw her pistols, but it was already too late. A pump-action rifle was loaded and then aimed directly behind her head. She could hear that the man holding it was joined by others; all of them had guns pointed at her as well. She let the doll fall to the ground, pissed that she'd been set up and took a small look around. There was no chance she could fight her way out of this without getting shot by at least one of the five other marauders.

The only woman among them sneered. "You bitch!" She finished with sarcasm as she pulled out a shotgun. "You dropped my baby."

A person on each side of the first gunman came and grabbed her arms to hold her steady. Someone immediately slapped handcuffs on both of her wrists. Alice kept her arms tight in them, her wrists pushing against the metal in fury to the point where she was losing feeling in her hands. It was so easy to become angry, too easy.

The man with the rifle lowered his weapon and kicked her in the back. Alice nearly fell forward but she kept on her feet as the woman taunted her.

"We're surrounded. We need help! Can anyone hear us? Can anyone help us? _Please!_"

Alice would've given anything for her powers. She was confident that with her strength she could've broken the chain keeping the cuffs together; then with just a little focus every, single, dirty, disgusting person would drop dead.

One of the greasier men set down his gun as he spoke to the woman. "Works every time, mama!"

He then pulled a knife the likes of which Alice had never seen before. Another one was tucked into his belt. She knew in an instant that she wanted them both. The curved blades got larger after the bend and then came to a sharp point. After she killed them all, she would take the knives and whatever else she wanted.

The man grabbed her by the throat and pulled her over to a table where another man reached from the other side and held her by the shoulders. They took her pistols from the holsters on her thighs and the shotgun from her back.

The man with the blade gave Alice a lustful grin. "Let's see what else she's packing!"

The inbred thug used his knife to trail a path down her shirt to her belt. The edge slid in between her belt and shorts, intent to cut them off as he spoke again.

"Whatcha' got down there, fishy?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Alice smirked back at the voice – Claire's voice. The redhead was standing behind the group, rifle drawn and K with a shotgun to her left.

The man was distracted enough that Alice kicked out with her booted foot and caught him in the chin. His head snapped rearward with a vicious crack, and he fell to the floor. A man behind Alice hit her in the back of the head with a pistol. She blacked out to the sound of gunfire.

Alice awoke to cold cement on her face as well as the sound and light of sparking wires. She tugged at her arms, but they were still restrained behind her back. Suddenly one of the men's voices came down from somewhere above her.

"Think you're pretty smart, hu? Well you'll see – you'll all see."

Alice didn't like the sound of that; she looked around to see Claire and K tied to a support beam next to the stairs about ten feet away. Their mouths were gagged, but they were struggling.

The brunette started to crawl to them, but before she could get there the man shouted again.

"Open the cage!"

The group above them started to whoop and holler with joy as they looked forward to the entertainment their prisoners were about to provide.

Alice heard the sound of grating metal and straining chains. It was followed quickly by long nails on concrete and barking. The brunette had only halved the distance between herself and the two survivors. She looked up to see an undead Doberman running for her. Alice had the reflex to jump up to her feet from her back, but she held it at bay.

This was her chance.

She made a dangerous gamble as the infected dog snapped its teeth before leaping onto her. Alice could hear Claire's screams through the cloth meant to silence her as the Doberman bit into her shoulder. Blood poured on the spot soaking into her fabric of her duster as the dog's canines tore at her muscle and ripped away a tendon. Alice would've been crazy to say it didn't hurt like hell, but right now none of that mattered. She didn't know it yet, but the T-virus from the dog's DNA was aggravating hers. The serum fought against it, but then the brunette felt the familiar gasoline fire in her veins.

She twisted out of the dog's attack as it ate the piece of flesh it stripped from her arm. Then it started to gag. Alice had never seen an undead creature choke before. It must have been in reaction to her serum-infested blood. She jumped to her feet, and the dog died a moment later.

_I suppose that's one way to get the job done, _she thought.

Her body was already repairing the damage as new layers of muscle, tendon, and skin began to form. The contamination spread much faster than when Isaacs injected her with the virus the first time. Alice never felt more at home in her own burning skin.

In an instant she flexed and pulled her arms apart breaking the chain holding the cuffs together.

The woman shouted a command. "Let 'em loose!"

Alice heard more noises of metal against metal as another three undead dogs were released from their cages. The first dog leaped at her and she punched it in the face. Its neck broke in a sick display of rotted flesh cut through by splintered and then exposed bone. She wrestled the second one to the ground, and as the dog tried to bite her she grabbed its ear intent to snap its neck. It sloughed off in her hand as a mass of crimson pulp and juice instead. These beasts had been undead for a while.

Finally she managed to get a good hold around its head from where her fingers slipped inside the tepid flesh behind its missing ear. She felt her fingernails graze the bones of the dog's spine as she twisted and broke its neck.

The last dog ran past her intent to go for easier prey; namely Claire and K-mart. The dog was about to descend on the teen when the brunette let the pressure build in her head. Her eyes dilated, and the dog's spine was ripped from its back. Lucky Claire and K-mart were immune to the T-virus because the action sprayed them both in a scarlet mist.

Though she still felt like her body was scorched black from the inside, all she could do was smile. The old Alice was awake – and she was _starving_.

She heard the people above her head gasp in astonishment and fear, and she glanced up at them. They immediately scrambled away from the edge, but they didn't get far. Alice looked at the support beam holding the concrete platform they were standing on, and her pupils expanded again.

She sent forward a psychic wave and it bent the metal enough that it could no longer hold all of the weight. The beam snapped in a second and the platform broke away so that the gang of thugs rolled off it and fell into the pit with her. When the dust cleared a moment later, Alice counted only four of them; the other two were likely dead at Claire and K-mart's hands.

The superhuman exertion was already starting to wear on her. She decided to end their lives quickly. One second the group was calling out for mercy; the next – they were all dead. Alice easily remembered how to sever spinal columns, and that was how she killed them.

The brunette took an exhilarated and self-satisfied breath. She saw one of the special blades had fallen nearby, and she picked it up smiling as a spark from a wire reflected on the metal. Then she caught sight of Claire's blood-spattered face in the mirrored surface.

She turned around; neither K-mart nor Claire was looking at her. Alice swallowed as she walked past them to cut the rope binding them to the beam. The knife severed the fastenings with ease. She freed the redhead first; then the teen.

No one knew what to say.

Suddenly Alice felt like she was going to be sick, not from the carnage but the heat. Even in the chilled basement her skin was roasting. Her vision blurred as the serum fought off the infection. She touched her head with her palm to abate her queasiness; they were both covered in sweat.

Claire called out to her, "Alice, what's wrong?"

"The infection…" the brunette tried to continue, but the inferno wouldn't let her. She dropped her hand from her forehead only to have Claire replace it with her own. The redhead's skin was so cool to touch.

"Jesus! You're burning up!"

Alice's body began to tremble; then it stopped. The intolerable warmth she felt dissipated until her temperature matched that of Claire's hand after it moved down from her forehead to rest on her cheek. Alice brought her own hand up to cover Claire's as she closed her eyes and took a breath.

"I'm fine now," she soothed. "Let's get out of here."

K-mart snickered. "Don't have to tell me twice."

After the two survivors washed the blood from themselves, Alice took her turn carefully to scrape out every bit of rotted flesh from beneath her fingernails as she stood next to Claire's Beast. She was already missing the feeling of the provoked T-virus in her blood. For a few minutes she'd reached the summit of her true power, and then just like that she was back to the level of mere human. Alice's addictive personality found it to be a horrible tease.

She looked at the fingernails of her right hand, they'd yet to be completely cleaned, and an image of her scraping them along her uncovered left arm appeared in her mind. The brunette would have to dig deep enough to make herself bleed; she had no qualms with self-inflicted injury because she was so tempted for another taste of that incredible high.

One of the Hummer's doors shut, and it snapped her out of her fantasy. She went back to excavating the infected flesh with her pocketknife.

Her new blades rested in a holster Alice found and altered to hold them at the small of her back. K-mart informed her that they were called Kukri knives used by Nepali soldiers in the both world wars. That girl was too smart for her own good. Now the steel blades would be used in another war – hers. It was a blood vendetta between herself and Umbrella. Alice still believed that she wasn't truly out for revenge, but if she just so happened to find it anyway she would not shy away. Until then she had three goals: keep Claire and K-mart safe, help other survivors, and kill the undead whenever possible.

Her nails now clean, she used a little of their water supply from a container in the back of the Hummer to sanitize her hands. Claire walked up to Alice, her aviator sunglasses reflecting the bright sun.

"We just picked up another transmission."

"So soon?" Alice questioned with surprise.

Claire nodded as she folded her arms over her chest. "The battery died before we could hear all of it, but we caught the location."

"Where are we headed?"

The redhead grimaced as she skirted the question. "Are you sure you don't just want to skip this one?"

Alice looked down to think. True their last few rescues hadn't gone so well. Mere minutes ago they were all about to be eaten alive for fun. But that didn't mean Alice wasn't needed elsewhere. She'd do whatever it took to save what was left of mankind. Her unyielding drive would be her downfall.

"We should help."

Claire nodded with reluctance and a sigh; then Alice asked again.

"So where to?"

"The Desert Trail Motel."

**So I must state that it was PHYSICALLY PAINFUL for me to write: Then Alice puts her gun AWAY! GOD ONLY KNOWS WHY! **

**Come on Alice! You know better. Damn stressful, haha. Let me know what you guys thought with reviews, yeah? They really are the only thing that keeps me working on this story. I do some of this for me, true, but most of it is for your enjoyment.**


	4. Day of the Dead

Chapter 4: Day of the Dead

Their morning stop at the radio station meant an evening stop at the Desert Trail Motel. It wasn't hard to find on the map they collected from the last gas station they visited. There hadn't been any fuel and they were going to be in trouble in a couple days time if they didn't find any soon. According to the road map there was also a gas stop at the motel. Alice prayed luck would be with them when they finally got there.

Thinking back now, Alice realized just how stupid letting the undead beast infect her really was. She had no idea what would happen when the dog did so. Alice brashly put her mortality on the line, and if the virus hadn't been brought back under control it certainly would've been suicide for her heart.

Claire had already asked her three times how she was doing since being bitten. Alice kept her responses short; she wasn't really sure what to say. The fourth time Claire asked, the brunette knew there was more on her mind than just Alice's wellbeing.

"How do you feel, Alice?"

The brunette was broken from silent trance at Claire's inquisition. "Um, I'm fine. Why do you keep asking?"

If K-mart heard their conversation, she didn't make it obvious. She kept her eyes out the window beside her and one hand on Paco as the dog panted through the open but fenced over window on his side.

Claire switched the position of her hands on the wheel. "Are you…" She paused, seeming to rethink her question. "_What _are you?"

"You mean – am I human?"

The redhead looked ashamed for asking though it was hard to tell behind her sunglasses.

Alice began her reply, completely calm – almost cold in her scientific explanation. "I'll never truly be human, Claire. My DNA is changed, but the serum fights its affects. Getting bit seemed to aggravate my blood until the serum brought it back under control."

The brunette watched Claire bite her lower lip. "Can the serum fail?"

Alice nearly laughed at the idea of Isaacs's serum failing. The doctor had been thorough, but he made a mistake. He created an immovable object in the serum and unstoppable force with her. The brunette had no idea how that would play out.

"I don't know."

The conversation was dropped.

It was nearing dusk when the survivors caught sight of the Desert Trail Motel. There was a convoy of various vehicles parked there. Two school buses, a news van, an ambulance, an army truck, and a large tanker were all positioned in a semi circle near the building. There was a lot of action going on around the area. Alice estimated an upwards of one hundred survivors. They'd never come upon a group so large. The brunette let herself fill with hope that they could convince them to go to Alaska.

After spotting the cruising Hummer, a group of seven armed men and women broke off from everyone to meet the strangers. Claire stopped in the road about twenty yards from them, but left the engine running as she and Alice stepped out.

"Stay," Alice commanded Paco and the teen.

The brunette had both hands on her pistols, but she didn't draw them. Claire was standing likewise with the handgun on her right hip. The group had their weapons out, but they weren't aimed, just ready. They approached the newcomers, and when they were fifteen feet away they stopped. Alice and Claire never left their spot after walking in front of the Hummer.

A few tense seconds passed as the opposing forces sized each other up. She glanced at each of them; the only one worth looking at was the man in the middle. His blonde hair was swept to the side. He didn't really have that rugged appearance characteristic of a leaded, but his fellow group kept looking to him for their commands. Alice figured the real leader of this convoy must've been unavailable or recently dead.

Alice decided to break the silence.

"My name is Alice. We're here to help."

The blonde man finally seemed to take charge as he responded with a thick Australian accent.

"I'm Mikey. I don't really know how much help you'll be, but this convoy is always looking to grow." He gave the brunette a timid smile.

They may not have needed help, but Alice would help them just the same.

"I'd like to speak to whoever's in charge."

Mikey seemed surprised that his cover was so easily blown, but he acquiesced anyway.

"Come join us in the motel, and you can talk there."

The Australian turned around, and each member of his group did the same in succession. When they were all walking away, Alice turned her head to look at Claire. Their eyes met and the redhead shrugged.

They got back in the Hummer and Claire drove the vehicle to the motel, but kept it away from the other vehicles.

On their arrival they were surrounded by survivors. Alice assumed they would be timid, but at the sight of Paco every single child squealed with joy and rushed to him when he jumped out of the Hummer. The growing dog had never gotten so much attention his entire life.

The adults were more apprehensive, but they were still given greetings and returned them lightly. The sun was setting, and nighttime procedures were taking place. People were starting small campfires for light and packing unneeded equipment away. Alice was about to make her way to the motel, but first she walked to Claire.

"I think you should stay," Alice said as she let her eyes travel to K-mart; Claire's were already on the teen.

Neither of them wanted to leave K unattended though the teen was taking to all the activity and noise with ease. She was talking to the children, telling them about Paco as the dog lay on his back. His tail thumped into the sand as he continued to be petted.

The redhead nodded, and Alice left to go to the motel. She was curious to meet the leader of so many people. Surely they were strong and unyielding to be in charge of so many lives, but Alice knew they would also have to be aloof, yet compassionate, but only to the point where their sympathy did not hinder their decisions. For some reason Alice thought of Claire. She would've made a good leader. Alice passed the news van and was about to walk past the tanker. The space in front of her was strangely cut off from all the commotion that had been so prevalent five yards away.

Suddenly from behind the vehicle walked a ghost. Someone who'd died long ago. Usually the people Alice killed had a tendency to stay that way, but that didn't stop Jill from heading towards the motel. Her black hair, while shaggy and shiny from unwashed grease, was still very short. She was in six-color desert camo and exuded bravado in her every booted step.

In an instant Alice wasn't the woman who'd trekked off on her own after the massacre at the facility in Detroit, she wasn't the one who helped those she came across then turned her back on them, she'd never found Claire and K-mart, she never fell in love, she was never captured again and made the decision to destroy the _Arcadia. _She was simply the one who'd just murdered all of her friends on the side of the road.

Alice couldn't rely on her sight. She knew about mirages, but she didn't think she was that dehydrated to start imagining things, plus Alice had never heard of them happening at night. She had to know for sure.

The brunette strode forth with no grace or stealth of any kind, and Jill turned in an instant. Their eyes locked and Alice froze in her tracks.

Jill's blue eyes narrowed. "You!" she spat.

The black-haired woman started to close the distance between them with severe purpose as her name fell from Alice's lips.

"Jill? I thought-" Alice stopped midsentence to begin another. "Is anyone else…?"

Jill snarled; she was only a pace away so she brought back a fist.

Alice saw the move coming, even in the dark; she would've been blind not to. The camouflaged woman punched her in the left cheek, but she didn't stop there. She brought her other fist to uppercut the brunette in the stomach. Alice doubled over at the loss of her breath, and her attacker grabbed her by the back of her coat to knee her hard in the gut.

The brunette took every hit without complaint and felt the pain to the fullest extent. She had no desire to fight back or even defend herself. She deserved this beating, and that's exactly what it was – a beating with no mercy and no restraint.

Jill stood Alice back up by her duster and punched her in the face again. Blood flew Alice's lips and fell in the dirt to collect in globs of dark-stained sand. The black-haired woman dropped to a crouch and kicked Alice's legs out from under her. Alice fell to the desert floor on her stomach and saw Jill's tan leather boots in front of her face. The woman grabbed Alice by the hair pulling her head up and forcing Alice to look at her.

"No," Jill answered. "No one else survived."

Alice glanced down when a piece of glinting metal caught her eye. It was Jill's S.T.A.R.S. badge pined to her top. The metal was warped in the center, almost as if it had caught a bullet.

Jill's haughty voice sounded again. "I'm just a little bit harder to kill than a _child_."

_Angie…_Alice remembered with anguish, not that she needed reminding.

Jill released her hair, but before Alice's chin could strike the earth Jill kicked her in the face.

"Get up!" Jill snapped. Alice didn't do anything, so she repeated herself. "I said _get up._"

The brunette brought her arms in, blood spilling from her nose and open mouth. Her muscles shook with weariness as she strained to lift herself off the ground. She only got to her hands and knees when Jill kicked her again, this time in the stomach. Alice was knocked onto her back by the heavy strike.

Now that her head was turned to look at the open sky, she could see that the stars were out. Then Jill's face blocked her view.

The black-haired woman smiled with contempt as she pulled a handgun on Alice.

Alice shut her eyes; not out of fear but of regret. A light breeze blew sand in her face, and the particles collected everywhere there was warm blood pouring from an open wound.

"Stop!"

Claire's voice broke Alice out of her reverie. She opened her eyes again to see Claire holding her own pistol to the back of Jill's head.

_For once, Claire – can't you just come to save me a second too late? _Alice pleaded.

The redhead continued to threaten, her tone laced with authority.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Alice watched Jill's face contort into an expression of confusion.

"Claire?"

The redhead was taken aback as well. "Jill? Is that you?"

Neither of the woman's guns lowered, but they shifted a little to take a look at each other. Now that they seemed to recognize each other, Claire's tone lost its furious edge.

"Jill, what are you doing?"

The black-haired woman turned back to stare at Alice as she answered.

"Putting a monster out of its misery."

Jill placed her finger on the trigger, thinking that Claire couldn't see her minuscule action in the dark.

"_Don't_," Claire growled as she pushed the barrel of her gun slightly into the back of Jill's head.

The black-haired woman's face twisted into hate and disgust as she finally lowered her weapon. Claire was a little slower in repeating the action. Jill began to storm off but left the redhead with a single, ominous warning.

"She'll kill us all."

Time seemed to stand still for Alice as those words echoed in her mind.

Claire holstered her piston; then dropped to her knees and cradled Alice's head in her lap. The brunette said nothing as she met Claire's green-eyed and concerned gaze. The redhead broke away for a second to give Alice's body a once over for other injuries. Their stares came together again as Claire spoke.

"You're a mess, you know that?" she teased lightly.

Alice smiled just for her, and then the redhead used her thumb to wipe the sandy blood from the corner of Alice's mouth.

All told Alice's lower lip was busted, she had a gash above her left eye, her ribs were bruised, some teeth were loose, and her nose was broken. Claire wiped away every bit of blood with a wet rag and gentle hand after they walked back to the Hummer.

"And I thought I needed to keep K-mart in my sight," the redhead jested as she wiped the cut above Alice's eye.

When the first bit of dry liquid was cleared, Alice could feel more warm blood pour from it. The redhead grimaced in reaction. The brunette studied Claire, and then voiced a question.

"How do you know Jill?"

The redhead smiled lightly as she responded. "I was about to ask you the same thing." Claire held the cloth to Alice's temple and answered. "She used to work with my brother."

Claire never talked about her brother. Alice figured it was too painful, so instead of asking more she gave the reply to her own question.

"Jill and I…" She really didn't know what to say.

At the beginning of that unfinished sentence Claire raised an eyebrow. Alice smiled when she finally understood that the redhead was jealous. Claire didn't seem to find that funny because she put a little more pressure on the wound than was necessary. The brunette started again, and as she continued Claire's touch calmed.

"I met Jill in Raccoon City. We survived the outbreak together."

"Then why were you fighting?" Claire thought for a second; then amended her question. "Why'd you let her do this to you?"

Alice swallowed nervously. She'd never told Claire about the first time Umbrella used its satellite to get a hold of her. Before she could answer, K-mart walked up to them with Mikey on her heels.

"Alice!" K-mart stated with shock as she looked at the brunette's face. "What happened?"

_Nothing a little infected blood can't fix,_ Alice thought in reflex.

Mikey interrupted. "Boss is waiting to hear what you have to say, so if you'll come with me..."

Alice nodded and Claire removed the bloody cloth. The bleeding had stopped and she was ready to face Jill again, though Alice still couldn't fathom that the hot-headed, former member of S.T.A.R.S. led this convoy. The redhead stepped up next to her protectively and to make the statement that Alice wasn't going alone.

Mikey turned to leave, and Alice looked at K-mart as she gave the teen an order.

"Stay out here. Make sure Paco behaves."

The teen smiled and gave Alice a mock salute.

Alice and Claire followed Mikey to the motel; then the Australian left. The foyer was lit with a lantern and decorated with pictures of desert wastelands. A couch and a few chairs were positioned around a small table; the couch was occupied by Jill and another man Alice had never seen before. Jill immediately tensed at the brunette's appearance and put her hand on her gun. Alice hardly noticed, there was something much more interesting going on between Claire and the man.

They said each other's names in an instant and at the same time with complete shock.

"Chris?"

"Claire?"

The man rose from the couch abruptly, and Alice reached from her semiautomatic in reaction. The fact that he wasn't a threat was made obvious a second later when Claire rushed into his embrace. Alice didn't know what to think. The man, Chris, was dressed almost exactly like Jill, but he didn't have on the camouflage top. Instead he was wearing a light brown T-shirt that showed off his physic. Alice considered his look a bit more. He had heavy set eyes and a low brow, but it was his chin that seemed to speak about him most or at least about Claire's relationship with him.

This was Claire's brother. He was also the leader Alice knew Jill couldn't have been. The brunette finally let her hand fall from her gun at the intensity of their reunion.

Jill cleared her throat, and the brunette snarled silently at her. No one would ruin this for Claire; Alice would make sure of it. Claire had a tear on her cheek as she tightened the embrace around her brother before letting him go.

The two didn't separate much, but the redhead was the first to speak.

"Shit, Chris," she laughed. "Where the fuck have you been?"

Chris responded with a smile. "I could ask you the same."

The pair hugged again briefly, and when they broke apart she introduced her brother to Alice.

"Chris this is, Alice." Claire looked at the brunette. "Alice, this is my brother Chris."

Alice looked away from Claire's green eyes to see the man's hand reaching for her own. The brunette's sight flicked to Jill as she shook the offered hand. The woman in camo was not pleased.

Alice decided to just cut to the chase, and then leave the siblings to catch up. She wasn't too happy that it might mean leaving Claire in the company of Jill, but it couldn't be helped.

"Chris," she started, "you need to take your convoy up north."

Jill immediately rose from the couch to get in Alice's face. She was stopped by Chris as Claire stood in front of the brunette.

The black-haired woman still managed to lash out at Alice verbally. "He doesn't have to do a damn thing you say! And if he truly wants to keep this convoy safe, he'll let me kill you."

Chris's eyebrows drew together as he scolded the furious woman. "Jill! I don't know what your problem is with my sister's friend, but you need to go cool off."

Jill shrugged out of Chris's grip and went into another room of the motel.

"I'm sorry about that," the man apologized. "Sometimes she can be a little gruff."

Alice shook her head. "No, she's right." Now it was Claire's turn to be confused, but the brunette continued to speak Chris. "I shouldn't be the one to convince you to go anywhere." Alice turned to the redhead with a questioning look. Claire showed her understanding with a nod.

The redhead began to tell Chris of the refuge they'd found in Alaska, but Alice's mind wasn't in it. As they all took their seats, and Chris and Claire talked, the brunette's thoughts wandered. They went back to Jill. The black-haired woman wasn't just right about the first thing she'd said – she was right about the other one too. It would only be a matter of time before Chris knew that as well.

Alice started to come back from her reverie when Claire and Chris's conversation started to wind down to details.

"We need to go as soon as possible," the redhead stated firmly.

Chris shook his head. "We can't yet."

"Why not?"

"I've got a group out responding to transmission for help."

Alice perked up even more as Claire voiced another question.

"Where?"

"A radio station about eight hours travel form here," he answered.

The brunette wondered if she should offer up their story, and it was apparent Claire was wondering the same thing because the redhead looked directly at her. With a sigh Alice signed what was sure to be her death warrant.

"We were already there. They're all dead."

Chris pursed his lips as he said, "That's a shame."

_Yeah, _Alice thought. _A real fucking shame. _

The man stretched in his seat a little, and it made Alice remember just how tired she was herself.

Chris spoke as he cracked his neck. "Well, I've got second watch tonight." He stood, and then Claire and Alice mirrored his action.

The redhead looked apprehensive, but of course she would be. She'd just found her brother and wasn't quite ready to let him go. Alice checked her watch as she waited for the statement she knew was coming. **1:35AM**.

"Alice, I'm going to take the watch with Chris." The next thing she said was lower and for only the brunette to hear. "You'll be ok?"

Alice nodded and walked back out into the night. K-mart and Paco were already asleep in the Hummer. The brunette took the driver's seat and settled down to rest. Her body ached from Jill's beating, the leather was even more uncomfortable than usual, and Alice had no idea where her place was anymore.

**Be honest - Chris you probably saw coming after I introduced Jill, but who saw Jill coming?...Anyone? Thank you all for continuing to read and review :) I appreciate it.**


	5. Two Weeks Notice

**Warning: While not explicit, this chapter contains dark, mature sexual themes. Readers sensitive to that may want to skip this and message me, I will gladly give you an edited version, no questions asked. **

**In fact this whole thing is dark. Please keep in mind the title of this story, and don't kill me. It's a world **_**without**_** heroes...**

**I also need to thank Foxfire141, who has been a tremendous help for my insane state of mind. :)**

Chapter 5: Two Weeks Notice

The next day the convoy spent at the motel waiting for the group that answered the transmission to come back. They arrived a little before noon, and Alice watched them go straight to Chris who'd been talking to a man named Chase near the tanker.

The leader's reaction to whatever they reported was not good. Chris seemed confused. Alice hadn't seen Jill once, but she knew the black-haired woman was with Chris every time Claire wasn't.

Chris ended up deciding to stay one more night at the motel, but Alice knew they'd already overstayed their welcome here. Her blood wasn't singing, but the brunette would've sworn she could feel wisps of the sensation as the sun set.

Claire had dinner with Alice. Over the meal the redhead's excited voice filled the air.

"I can't believe all of these people will be going to Alaska."

Alice nodded as she took another bite of her canned fruit salad.

"I think…" Claire paused and though it was a short one it was relevant. "We should help them get there."

The brunette didn't respond, so Claire continued to state her case.

"I could really help Chris lead everyone back and then get them settled."

_Settled? _Alice wondered. _Just who are you getting settled, Claire? _Alice knew the answer. Once the redhead went back to their haven Alice knew she wouldn't want to leave it again. She offered up no response hoping that Claire would take it as Alice being weary against the idea but knowing that Claire probably took it as acceptance.

Alice looked at her watch for the third time in two minutes. **11:46PM**. She'd done next to nothing but sulk and brood all day. Truthfully, there wasn't much to do. The convoy had an efficient way to run things and the brunette hadn't been the only one task-less. She hadn't seen Claire since dinner or K-mart since lunch, but Paco remained by her side as she leaned against the Hummer.

The dogs ears perked, and he turned his head to stare off into the distance. Alice followed his interested gaze and while she saw nothing – she knew trouble was coming. Though a good section of the convoy was asleep, everything was suddenly too quiet. Paco whined once and then looked at Alice. She met his eyes and opened the door to the yellow SUV so he could jump inside. The Saint Bernard was not a fighter, just an efficient warning system. She shut the door behind him and immediately went to find Claire.

The redhead was in the motel with Chris and Jill; laughter filled the foyer until Alice stepped inside.

"Trouble's coming," she said to Claire.

Jill's eyes narrowed. "If trouble's coming, then you brought it here."

Alice hadn't noticed it before but Chris and Jill were holding hands. At the black-haired woman's comment Chris gave her a hand a squeeze, and then tried to placate Alice.

"Don't worry. If there's trouble, our sensors will pick it up long before it gets here."

The brunette shook her head, and then something beeped on Chris's person and a scream rang out.

The four of them were out of the motel as if it was on fire. The noise had come from behind the ambulance. Claire, Chris, and Jill went to check it out with pistols drawn, but Alice sprinted past it to look out into the desert night. Cresting the eastern horizon were blots of an even darker shade. There were a lot of them, and they were coming fast.

Though they had the appearance of human silhouettes, Alice knew they were moving too quickly to be the average undead. As the first infected person confirmed her theory with its gaping mouth, unrealistic speed, and grey jumpsuit, Alice knew they were facing Umbrella experiments. She'd gone against them before, but she'd never seen this particular breed. It could only mean one thing – there was an Umbrella facility nearby and it was still active.

Alice un-holstered her pistols and began to fire at the horde as they crossed into the camp. Other convoy members were at her side with guns drawn. They couldn't believe their eyes, and they let her know it as they voiced their displeasure about the creatures' speed.

Chase was one of the men next to her. "Damn, these sons-a-bitches are fast!"

She had to agree, but that wasn't all. They were strong too. Alice kept unloading into them, but they were immediately replaced by more of the horde. Bloodcurdling screams and gunshots kept piercing the night air, the altered undead seemed endless, most people were thrown off by the creatures heightened abilities, Alice had no idea where Claire or K-mart was; overall – they were fucked.

Another undead charged Alice, and while her semiautomatics were not empty, she holstered the weapons and threw her duster to the desert floor. The brunette would do whatever was necessary to stop this massacre before all was lost, but that didn't mean she needed to spend all day sewing up holes in her coat. The undead woman seized Alice's shoulders in a powerful death grip, and the brunette shut her eyes against the pain she was about to feel. The creature descended on Alice's neck as another infected bit the inside of her knee. A third set of teeth tore into her side ripping through her shirt and tearing away skin and muscle.

Blood poured, and blood mixed.

And then blood sang.

The flames started slowly creeping their way through her body with every pulse of her heart. The first undead to bite her, pulled back as it choked on a mouthful of her warm flesh. The second and third were soon to follow. Alice's wounds healed over, even the ones from Jill's thrashing, as each undead collapsed to the ground around her. She took an excited breath as the T-virus ran rampant through her veins. The fire seemed more manageable this time and Alice was over it in a matter of seconds.

She unsheathed her Kukri blades with arousing delight. Alice brought forth her adrenaline and bloodlust by twirling them in her hands. _Time to save lives._

Her first victim came running, and Alice swept the blades in a vicious downward arc. They sliced the undead from its collarbone all the way to its pelvis. The sharp, tempered steel didn't even catch once as it cut into bone; Alice's unrestrained strength wouldn't let them. To kill the creature she rotated and when she did a full turn, whipped her right arm around to decapitate the undead. Its head rolled to land against her left boot. Alice snickered as she looked down at the grimacing expression engrained into its flesh forever.

The decapitating, the spine-severing…the _saving_ went on for a bloody eternity. Guns were still being fired as Alice cleared the immediate area of undead. She ran to the shots to see Claire, Chris, Jill, and a handful of others fighting near the tanker. The redhead nearly shot Alice when the brunette emerged upon them a mess of crimson blood and gore.

"Shit, Alice!" Claire aimed her gun away from the brunette and turned back to help kill the infected. The group of survivors was driven back, but Alice stepped forward.

Claire yelled at her. "Alice! Get out of the way!"

The cry fell on deaf ears. Alice knew she could handle this horde until her blood began to burn again. The aggravated infection was wearing off, but she couldn't take the time to get bitten again. The risk that an undead would slip past her was too great. She looked at the knives in her hand and without a second thought flipped them so that the blood-covered blades were no longer facing out. She quickly drove them into her stomach. Alice was sure Claire could see the tips of the knives sticking out through her back because the redhead gasped in utter shock. Alice sputtered when she withdrew them a moment later. The fire raged as the injuries healed.

The blades were still backwards in her hand, and she twisted them around so the sharpened edges were facing away from her. She punched out catching the first undead to reach her in the nose with the knife as her fist just barely brushed against the undead's cheek. The top portion of the creature's face fell away from the bottom, and then was joined on the ground by the rest of its body a second later.

Guns were still being fired into the night, but they seemed to lessen as Alice continued on with the massacre. Minutes later it was all over.

Alice's breathing was heavy and spiked with adrenaline. The brunette let the knives in her hands rest at her side as she relaxed her arms. She glanced around; bodies were everywhere, not all of them in jumpsuits. Claire was still at Chris and Jill's side, the look on her face Alice couldn't read. She wasn't sure she wanted to. As the stimulation left her body, her powers left it too.

The warmth made her face flush, and the sweating began. The weapons were shaken out of her grip as Alice fell to her knees. It felt like every single skin cell was blistering in the intense heat. Her body didn't just rebel, it completely overthrew her control. She collapsed into the sand as a cry of pain was forced past her lips. The flames were agony; Alice only wished they were real so at least the black smoke of burning flesh would suffocate her into unconsciousness.

Claire was next to her a moment later but not touching her as she convulsed in the sand.

_Please, Claire – touch me or kill me! _She wanted to scream. _I can't take this! _Alice only wanted to be in the redhead's arms as the inferno threatened her sanity.

Suddenly Claire's hand was in hers and while it didn't lessen the pain, it did lessen Alice's awareness of it. She found the willpower to open her eyes and met Claire's green-eyed gaze.

The fire began to abate as if a soft rain was steadily soaking the blazing earth it fell on. Alice's tremors stopped though her breathing was still all over the place. Claire finally took the brunette into her lap just like she'd done after the beating Alice received from Jill. Only this time Claire wrapped her arms to frame Alice's face as she brought their foreheads together.

Then Alice really did feel rain. Claire's tears dropped onto the brunette's forehead and hair line. Alice weakly lifted her hands to bury them in red hair, and she rubbed the back of Claire's head soothingly. The woman pulled back a little so Alice released her.

They just stared at each other. The silence between them serious and profound with every word unsaid. Finally Claire helped the brunette to her feet and though Chris tried to stop Claire, she led Alice back to the Hummer.

The vehicle still contained Paco, and as Claire helped Alice to sit in the passenger seat, the brunette struggled to voice her concern.

"Wh-where's K?"

"She's fine," Claire replied. "Holed up in one of the buses with some others."

Alice took a breath of relief as Claire turned to leave.

She tried to ask the redhead what she was doing, but through the exhaustion she could only manage one word. "Where…"

"To see Chris." Claire looked forlorn over her shoulder at Alice. "Just get some rest, ok?"

The brunette nodded and shut the Hummer door as the redhead walked away. Alice thought the fighting was over, what she didn't know was that Claire was about to fight one more battle; a battle for her.

When Alice's eyes finally opened to the morning light she felt like shit. Paco barked in her ear at the sight of her stirring, but it wasn't an alert to danger, more like a noise of relief.

"Morning to you too," Alice said as she held her hand over her eyes to keep out the light.

Her head was pounding, and the sun was only aggravating it. She braved the pain again as she looked to find Claire. The redhead wasn't in the vehicle, but Alice's coat had been draped over her. Every muscle ached against the motion she put them through to open the Hummer door. She was barely out before Paco jumped over the seat to run out behind her. He bolted, but Alice had no idea where he was going, though at the moment she didn't much care.

There were too many spots of blood-stained stand; too many unfinished graves to the right of her; too many people to the left of her staring in fear. Neither Claire nor K-mart was among them. Before Alice left to find them, she went around to the back of the Hummer and out of sight of the convoy, began to wash the blood from her skin. Her clothes were a disaster of torn and cut fabric. Alice lifted her dark-stained cami to see unmarred skin; she'd almost expected to see perfect scars. The brunette went to wash her knives next, and then recalled that they'd been dropped in the sand. Alice gave up the hunt for the knives to search for Claire instead.

Her first instinct was to go to the motel. People scrambled out of her way at the mere sight of her. Alice wouldn't admit it, but it was heartbreaking. She was at the motel quickly and found that her first instinct was dead on. Before she could enter the building she heard the strains of an argument. Chris's voice was first.

"She has to leave!"

Claire barked back, "She saved your convoy's lives!"

"No!" the man hollered. "Jill's right! It's her fault. She brought those creatures here!"

"That's not possible-" Claire stopped her yelling the second Alice walked into the room.

The brunette took stock of her surroundings. Chris and Claire were standing hardly three feet away, both of them in each other's faces. Jill on the other hand – was handcuffed to an exposed water pipe. It was then that she saw the blood-soaked bandage around her arm.

Everyone looked at her, but Chris spoke first.

"Leave. I want you _gone_."

Claire stepped between Chris and Alice as she defended the brunette. "I already told you – there's no way those things came here because of her."

The man looked down at his sister. "You believe whatever you want, but I have my people's lives to take into consideration. I have responsibilities." Chris pointed over Claire's shoulder at the brunette as he accused her. "She's too fucking dangerous to stay here."

The redhead said nothing. Alice wondered if it was because Claire knew it was true. The brunette certainly did.

"If she leaves…" Claire met her brother's stare with a fierce one of her own. "I leave too."

_No, Claire, _Alice thought. _I never wanted this. _She never wanted to come between the brother and sister. She never wanted Claire to have to choose. The redhead chose wrong anyway.

Chris took a step back until he was able to take Jill's hand in his own. "I can't lose you both."

The black-haired woman looked out of it. Alice wasn't even sure if Jill knew what was going on anymore.

Claire spoke again to her brother, this time softer. "Just give us until tomorrow; then if you still want us to leave – we will."

Mikey interrupted before Chris could respond. "I'm sorry Chris, but we're done with the gra-" He paused and started a new sentence. "If you want to say a few words, we're ready."

Chris nodded and released Jill's hand. The black-haired woman looked up at the loss of touch and followed Chris with her sight as he walked out of the room.

Alice's eyes went to the infected woman. Jill was dying. It seemed so cruel to see the woman alive and well just yesterday, only to have her taken by yet another of Alice's mistakes. She should've initiated her own infection sooner. Maybe then Jill would be the one telling the brunette to leave.

For a second, Jill met Alice's eyes as Claire grabbed her hand and started to lead her out of the hotel. Alice pulled her hand back unconsciously; then walked out of the room before the redhead.

The two of them walked in silence back to the Hummer. On the way they passed twenty-three fresh graves and Chris talking about those who died. It seemed that nearly everyone was is in attendance, at least everyone who was left. Even K-mart was standing next to Mikey and Chase as the three bowed their heads out of solemn respect.

Once there, and out of earshot of the mass funeral, Alice leaned up against the Hummer letting the sun hit her face as Claire spoke.

"You never finished telling me about Jill."

"I killed her," Alice stated simply.

"What?"

"At least I thought I did," the brunette responded and ran her hand through her hair. "The first time I was taken over by Umbrella, I shot her. I thought she was dead. So she just wanted what was rightfully hers."

"What's that?" Claire drew her eyebrows together, almost as if she knew she wouldn't like the answer Alice was about to give.

Alice explained Jill's animosity with a word she knew well. "Revenge."

Claire was all over it in a second.

"Alice, that wasn't your fault!"

"Don't say that."

The redhead approached Alice and laid a hand on her cheek, trying desperately to make the brunette see that what she said – she honestly believed. "It's true."

Alice was tired; tired of getting forgiveness when all she wanted was blame; tired of getting love when all she wanted was hate; tired of living a life where she felt every mistake branded into her flesh on a daily basis.

"Stop, Claire," she requested. "Please."

"No, I won't stop." Now, Alice wasn't the only one begging as Claire's voice began to break. "You need to let this go – _let all of it go_. This regretful, sorrowful Alice is just…tearing you apart. I don't know how much more of this I can take." The redhead had tears in her eyes as she pulled her hand from Alice's face, and she used it to hold back a sob. "This self-loathing," she said through anguish-ridden breaths. "This selfless, yet self-destructive desire to save everyone you come across." Claire's tears fell unrestrained. "But you _refuse_ to save yourself!"

Love was supposed to make you a better person; supposed to heal all wounds; supposed to be beneficial to both. Alice only felt like she was killing Claire. She was _killing_ Claire. While the redhead may've been her anti-virus, she was still Claire's virus.

Alice got up from leaning against the Hummer and was about to leave before Claire stopped her with a hand on her upper arm.

"Where are you going?" the redhead questioned.

The brunette didn't answer, but she still just couldn't leave Claire like this. She took the redhead's hand from her arm and pulled Claire to her with intent to kiss her. When the redhead was close enough, and about to initiate the intimacy herself, Alice changed her mind. _Better a clean break, _she reasoned. She strode past Claire and kept on moving forward to where she'd dropped her blades the night before.

Alice walked quickly and found the blades faster still when she neared the tanker. She kneeled down to collect them, but then the redhead was next to her. She wasn't crying anymore; she was pissed.

"You know what?" Claire spat rhetorically. "I think I liked you better when you were selfish. At least then you still wanted me."

Alice didn't know if it was to prove to Claire or to herself that she could still be selfish, but she stood and then pushed the redhead back into the tanker. When Claire had nowhere else to go Alice took her lips forcefully. There was no one around to see them; no one around to stop her.

She pressed her lips against the redhead's, intent to conquer without understanding and without any concern for the other woman's willingness. Claire fought it. The brunette grabbed the hands trying to shove her away and pressed them above Claire's head into the side of the vehicle as she continued to taste whatever of the redhead's mouth she could.

The brunette kept Claire's hands together with one of her own as the other found its way to the inside of her captive's thigh. Even without her superhuman strength, Alice had hunger enough to keep Claire exactly where she was.

The redhead pleaded against Alice's lips. "_Stop_, Alice."

Alice ignored her and moved her hand up to unbutton Claire's pants. With the fastening undone the brunette slipped her hand into the other woman's underwear. What her fingers found told her all she needed to know.

She whispered lowly into the redhead's ear. "Your body doesn't want me to stop."

Alice rubbed her fingers against Claire, and though the redhead's eyes had been closed for a while, Alice watched them squeeze tighter as she let out a moan. The redhead stopped resisting, and the lustful brunette continued to stroke her roughly.

The very second Claire showed her want for the touch by thrusting into Alice's hand, and her anxiety to match the kiss Alice was taking from her by returning it, the brunette backed off. Her blue eyes burned in the daylight with desire and rage.

"You want a monster, Claire?" She growled as she finished, "_You've got one_."

With that Alice left Claire panting against the tanker without a backwards glance.

She went straight for the empty ambulance and searched a shelf in the back until she found what she required. Alice grabbed the equipment and put it in the inside pocket of her duster. When she emerged there was still no one else around. She had to take advantage of the time the memorial gave her, so Alice went swiftly to the motel. Jill was its only occupant.

The black-haired woman was hardly conscious. It would be better that way. Alice walked behind her and withdrew the first empty syringe from her pocket. She made sure the plunger was completely down and removed the cover over the tip before she swept Jill's dark hair to the side to expose her neck. Jill's skin was cool and clammy to the touch, and she didn't react. Alice knew she had to move faster, before it was too late. Jill's living but infected blood would flow better than if it was coagulated.

She slipped the needle inside a vein, like Isaacs had done to her countless times before, and pulled back on the plunger causing the tube to fill with dark red liquid. Alice pulled the needle out and put the cover back on the tip. She moved methodically, and in silence, as she filled another three syringes.

Before she put the cap on the last loaded syringe, she pulled the sleeve up on her coat and kneeled. She flexed her right arm a few times, making a fist to clench and release it. Her veins reacted to the tension and became more pronounced.

A dead man's words played in her thoughts. _Always did have such perfect veins._

True, Alice didn't need to hit a vein to meet her goal, but she wanted her fix fast, and there was nothing faster than a straight up injection into a blood vessel. She held the last squeeze and steadied her left hand with her the forearm she was about to pierce. The needle easily found its mark, and the mere blood stain from Jill on the metal started the process of her latest addiction.

She forced the plunger down only two tick marks. It wouldn't take much, and if she didn't use her active powers right away, Alice theorized that they would remain in reserve until she needed them. Only then would the serum be reactivated.

The fire flashed through her like a lightning bolt and was gone. It was as if her DNA was taking to being aggravated faster, but being suppressed much slower and with much more pain. Her blood vibrated lightly in Jill's presence.

Suddenly Jill's head rose as Alice withdrew the needle.

The black-haired woman gave her a sick smirk. "Umbrella may ha-have turned you into…what you were before…" she sputtered briefly before she continued. "But look who's…turning yo-you into…what you are…_now_."

Alice snarled at the woman. Jill's head slumped again, and Alice replaced the final cap over the needle and put it in her pocket with the others.

"Alice…" Jill spoke again, this time her voice didn't hold the disdain the brunette had come to expect. "Tell Chris…I love him."

Alice's blood went from vibrating to singing in an instant.

Jill looked up at her again – but she was Jill no longer. The black-haired infected gnashed her teeth at Alice and the brunette pulled a semiautomatic as she stood. She aimed at the woman of her own free will but was just as reluctant to shoot her.

Chris walked in right as Alice squeezed the trigger.

The man ran to Jill and collapsed to his knees in front of her. Tears streaked down his face as reached out to touch her bloody face.

Alice immediately interfered, yanking his wrist back with unconscious use of her superhuman strength.

"Stay away from her blood! Are you _insane_?" she barked at him.

Chris closed his eyes. "Yes. Love is insane."

**Love IS insane! Now stay with me readers; I have every intent to let Alice fix what she's done. It's just gonna take time. The next chapter is from K's POV and I don't think you'll want to miss it. And if you're still in doubt my only question is - have I ever let you down before? **


	6. Better Days

**Sorry about the delay readers. School is currently kicking my ass worse than Alice's thrashing by Jill. So updates may take longer, but of course I'm still writing. :) Enjoy K's chapter.**

Chapter 6: Better Days

K-mart knew she could adjust to this convoy life with ease. Still, this home among other people; children, adults, kids her own age – would always pale in comparison to the home she had with Claire and Alice in Alaska. The teen often found herself remembering better days, even as the desert sun tried to scorch away the frozen memories she held so dear.

"_You two keeping up?" Alice questioned over her shoulder as Claire and K trekked through the near foot of snow behind her._

_Claire let out a heavy breath next to the teen, but K-mart grinned. Claire so hated the cold, the teen didn't mind it, but Alice and Paco seemed to love it. That's why they were following the brunette right now, instead of sitting in front of a nice, warm fire inside their cabin._

_The redhead griped to Alice a moment later. "I can't believe I let you talk me into dragging my ass out here."_

_K watched Alice shrug as she responded, "I can't believe you still love me."_

_Claire rolled her eyes, but K just smiled to herself. She enjoyed their playful interaction so much. True, their relationship was difficult at times, but they were good for each other. The teen could see that. Though lately, Alice had been growing silent. Sometimes she wouldn't speak for days. K knew what that was like, so she hated to see it happening to the brunette. She did everything she could to lighten Alice's mood. Often that meant K had to be stubborn with Claire. The redhead matched her iron will, and desire to make Alice happy, pound for pound. Claire often threatened the teen with being grounded – that always had the power to make Alice laugh._

_It was late January and easily close to zero degrees, but Alice said they weren't going far. K was very curious as to what the brunette had planned. She knew Alice almost always had something up her sleeve. The older woman could be a lot of fun. Ice skating almost every day since Christmas with the teen was proof of that enough. Occasionally they skated in the dark. It had been scary at first, but it was really amazing too. She could skate and look up at the same time to see the stars. Stars had a special place in her heart. Maybe it was childish, but she still wished on them every night they were out. Mostly she wished to find the happiness Alice and Claire had, but she made wishes for them too – that they would always stay that way._

_Paco suddenly tugged on her glove in a move of tomfoolery. The pup was such a trouble maker._

_K lightly scolded him. "No, Paco." _

_The dog merely ran to catch up to Alice and barreled into the back of her legs._

"_Jesus!" Alice cursed as she tried to right herself. "You damn dog!"_

_Paco sprinted away as Claire laughed._

_The brunette turned around and started to walk backwards. "Think that's funny, do ya?"_

_Claire threw up her hands in mock surrender. "Oh no, not me…" The redhead quickly pointed to the teen. "It was K!"_

"_How _old_ are you?" the teen accused with sarcasm as she folded her arms over chest._

_The redhead seemed to look off in contemplation and not like the answer she finally came up with. Alice turned back around quietly, and then K realized she'd done it _too _quietly._

What is she planning? _K wondered with a lifted eyebrow. She didn't have to ponder for long._

_The brunette ducked her head beneath a snow-covered branch. K estimated that she wouldn't have to duck, though Claire did. Just as they passed beneath it, the teen saw Alice reach behind and above her. Suddenly a huge torrent snow fell on top of her and Claire with a solid thud. The freezing substance covered every inch of K-mart's exposed skin and melted to soak into her coat. She was absolutely covered and began to shake it off with haste._

_Claire was cursing wildly next to her. She was using a colorful variety of words that would've gotten K 'grounded.' Alice, however, was laughing with unrestrained enjoyment._

_K-mart finally brushed the last of it off and looked up at the tree that used to be encased in snow – it was completely bare of everything but tree bark._

"_You son of a bitch!" Claire cursed again though she was smiling. "I'm going to get you for that."_

_Alice turned and began to walk backwards again, holding her hands in submission just like the redhead had done. "I didn't do it…" The brunette looked at K. "She did it!"_

"_That's it!" K shouted and bent down to pick up a handful of snow. "I'm getting you both!" _

_The teen quickly packed together a snowball and threw it at Alice. The brunette was hit square in the face and immediately stopped walking. K's eyes widened as Alice smirked like a very mischievous rogue._

_Alice bent to grab some snow herself, but instead of firing it at the teen, she hit Claire in the chest._

_The redhead looked down at herself with shock. "This means _war._"_

_It was a battle of epic proportions. Casualties left and right. But it was also the most fun winter K ever had._

K-mart let the memory burn away the second she lifted her head and saw Claire walking towards the Hummer with tears in her eyes. True, there were many people crying right now. Chris was still talking about those that were gone, and the convoy seemed to be taking it hard. But that shouldn't have affected the redhead so badly. There was something else going on.

The teen had been amazed to find out the leader was Claire's older brother. The redhead had been nothing but thrilled since finding him. Her vigor had been renewed at finding and helping so many people. Alice was another story. The teen saw her injuries from a couple nights before, though she had no idea where they came from. K chastised herself for letting her responsibilities go. She'd been so caught up in experiencing life within the convoy that she'd forgotten to keep Claire and Alice in her sights.

K-mart decided to amend that situation right now. She quietly slipped away from the funeral and followed Claire. The redhead didn't notice her until she opened the driver's side door and was surprised to see K doing the same on the passenger's side.

"K? What are you…" the redhead let her question drop and wiped the tears from her eyes before they could fall.

"What's wrong, Claire?"

K watched Claire look out the windshield before them. It felt like it took an eternity for her to answer.

"I…I don't know," Claire started to shake her head. "I don't know anything anymore."

The redhead was being far too evasive for K's liking. "Did something happen?"

Claire didn't respond, and that's when K-mart knew. It was Alice. Whatever the problem was, it had to do with the brunette, and it was bad.

"What did she do?" K asked steadily.

The redhead's lower lip trembled so she bit it to quell the motion. K-mart reached out and placed her hand on Claire's shoulder.

"Nothing, but-" the redhead swallowed. "Nothing I didn't want her to do, but it was still wrong." K-mart's eyebrows knitted in confusion, but she started to rub Claire's shoulder out of sympathy as the redhead continued. "I angered her into crossing a line that she's been trying so hard to avoid."

Claire still wasn't making much sense to the teen. K wondered about the line she was referring to. _Did Alice hit her? _The teen was instantly enraged and upset. Long ago she'd made Alice a promise. It was an oath she'd defend loyally. Claire was the one who found and taken care of her when the world went to Hell. She was her mom, her big sister, her best friend.

_No, that can't be right, _K revised._ Why would she want to be hit? Better question – why would Claire let herself be hit? _The teen still didn't understand, but she didn't need to. Claire was hurting, it had to do with Alice so likely the brunette was hurting too, and it was K-mart's job to fix it. And if Alice didn't already regret her actions – she would make her regret them.

Suddenly Claire's voice shook the teen from her silent fuming. "I don't know what to do K."

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to make her to leave…and I want to make her to stay." Suddenly Claire punched the door next to her, and it surprised K. "I trusted her," the redhead said through clenched teeth.

Before K-mart even knew what to make of that heated confession, a gunshot sounded. This time they both startled; then gave each other a nervous glance and bolted. Claire was in the motel before the teen, and K watched the redhead give Alice a suspicious glance as she ran to her brother kneeling on the floor.

"Chris?" the redhead pleaded as she wrapped her arms around his shaking shoulders.

K-mart couldn't believe that Chris was crying. But what she couldn't believe more was the way Alice was standing, shoulders back with an expression on her face of mistrust and anger.

It was then that K-mart understood what Claire meant about _the line_. Alice looked so much like her old self. The one that was cruel and kept others at bay – the same one who was an addict when it came to drowning her own pain in alcohol.

Claire continued to comfort her brother as Alice made to walk past them all. She passed K-mart without even looking at her, but before she left the room she spoke.

"Chris, Jill said she loves you."

The complete, unwavering perfection with which Alice voiced Jill's last words sent shivers up K's spine. Then when Chris continued to break at hearing them, it caused her chest to tighten in suffering. She didn't know the leader all that well, but he was Claire's brother and that made him family. In K-mart's hazel eyes, his pain was her pain.

Still there was someone else's pain she had to deal with – or cause.

She followed Alice outside of the motel even though Claire yelled at her to come back.

The brunette spoke, but she didn't turn around on her way back to the Hummer. "You should listen to Claire."

"And you should listen to me," K shot back.

Alice kept on, her speed increasing, and the teen nearly had to jog to keep up. Members of the convoy scattered from the brunette, but that didn't stir K's apprehension for Alice in the slightest. Maybe it was foolish and naïve to think that that the brunette would never hurt her, no matter how violent she could be.

"You hurt her, Alice!"

The older woman froze right before she got to the yellow vehicle, and K-mart nearly ran into her.

"I know," Alice stated.

"Do you?"

The brunette turned on her heel, every bit as angry as she'd been before, but who she was angry at – K-mart couldn't say.

"Yes, I do. I'm leaving."

Though K-mart remembered Claire's uncertain words, she knew the redhead would never truly want Alice to leave. Not to mention K-mart didn't want her too either.

"Don't go." The teen's eyes brimmed with tears. She hated crying and being emotional, truly she did. It made her feel like such a child, and she didn't want to be a scared little girl anymore. She wasn't a scared little girl anymore. She'd gotten over her fear of speaking and learned how to defend herself; it was time for her to grow up. The people around her – closest to her – were falling apart; someone had to be the voice of reason.

With a maturity beyond her age, K-mart buckled down and wiped away her tears. "We came out here because of you. Because you wanted to help, who are you really helping if you leave now?"

The answer was obvious. Alice was helping herself. She couldn't deal with the pain of whatever she'd done to Claire, so she was running.

Still, Alice came up with a different response. "Others." The brunette turned back to the Hummer and got out one of the maps from the glove compartment. Then she walked to the back, opened the hatch and started to rifle through her own gear.

"We need you," K said as she watched the older woman meticulously pack herself a bag. It was what Alice didn't grab that troubled her the most. She wasn't taking any of the water or food. Not even ammunition.

"No, you don't," Alice said calmly. She'd lost her furious edge. "You're on your way to Alaska, you'll be safe there."

"Where are you going?"

The brunette didn't answer until her bag was ready; the woman lifted it over her shoulder with the slightest effort and faced the teen.

"To fix a wrong I made."

K-mart presented by far her best argument. "You've got things to fix here too."

Alice looked off almost as if to consider it, but K realized it was actually only to strengthen her resolve.

The teen approached Alice solemnly. "I know I can't change your mind." She hesitated for a moment before wrapping the taller woman in a hug. Alice hadn't tensed at K's touch in a long time, but that's exactly what she did now. Right until K-mart started to pull back. The teen instantly found herself held in a strong and steady embrace. She'd kept the tears back before, but these ones were different. They fell slowly; they fell for the loss she was feeling. K-mart had been wrong, the brunette could hurt her; hurt her badly.

"K…" Alice spoke little by little, "tell Claire…" it was if each word caused her more pain than the last, "I love her."

The brunette released K-mart, but couldn't meet her eyes.

"I won't do it, Alice." K watched Alice's shoulders drop with the loss of her last request.

"I understand," the older woman responded softly as she began to turn around.

"I don't think you do," K said quickly. "You need to tell her yourself."

Alice completed her rotation, and now her back was to the teen. "I can't. Goodbye K-mart."

With that, the teen watched her hero leave with no idea if she'd ever see her again. K-mart would be the one left to tell Claire of Alice's final transgression against her, and she would be the one to help Claire pick up the pieces of their life as they traveled back to Alaska. Alice got further away with every unfaltering step until it seemed like the hot sand swallowed her whole.

But K was a smart girl. She made sure to note the direction the brunette had gone. Surely Claire would want to know, so they could track her down and bring her back.

The teen wiped her tears away and turned to go to the motel where Chris was crying over his lost love, and where Claire would soon be doing the same. K-mart certainly had better days.

"_It's seriously a wonder you managed to survive this long!" Alice laughed and then hollered at Claire again as she dodged another of the redhead's snowballs. "You're the worst shot I've ever seen!" _

_Since K's first strike, neither she nor Claire had been able to hit Alice. The brunette was too agile on her feet and quick to fire back. It had gotten to the point where K-mart and Claire had teamed up against her. Poor Paco just kept getting caught in the crossfire._

_K-mart reached down and grabbed another handful of snow, making sure to keep her back tightly against the tree shielding her from Alice. When she was ready she looked across from her to see that Claire was set as well. They nodded at the same time and broke the cover of their individual tree, arms back and ready to launch their assault. But Alice was gone. _

_This time when K's eyes met the redhead's, they both looked at each other with shock and apprehension. _We're in trouble, _K-mart thought and knew Claire was thinking the exact same thing._

_Before K-mart could even warn her, Alice jumped on Claire's back. It was like she'd come out of nowhere, but K-mart had to give the redhead credit. Claire had somehow been ready for her. She threw Alice off, and the brunette landed on her back in the snow. K watched Claire lunge onto her as the two giggled like love-struck teenagers._

_Alice was getting a face full of snow at Claire's hand. The brunette only fought it weakly as she continued to laugh into the icy air. _

"_You surrender?" Claire asked as she sat up a little straighter on Alice's midsection, a smug expression on her face._

_The brunette's left eyebrow rose in amused contemplation and was matched by her upturning lips. K looked away to ready another snowball__, the first one having been knocked out of her hand by a playful Paco_. And just like that the tables had been turned. When the teen's gaze went back to the pair, Claire was on her back in the snow as Alice sat on top of her.

_The brunette was still smirking as she brought her face closer to Claire's. "Never."_

_K knew what was coming next, she'd have been blind not to. She smiled and glanced away to give Claire and Alice their moment. The teen decided to use the distraction to her advantage and made another snowball. _One for each of them, _K-mart thought with mischief. When she looked back, Alice was just pulling away from Claire. Neither of them had any idea what was about to happen. It was entirely possible K-mart was about to get herself grounded…again._

**So was that not the most bittersweet thing ever...damn.**


	7. Leap Year

Chapter 7: Leap Year

Claire tried to soothe her brother. It came naturally. She hugged him tighter, and he returned it as his towering frame continued to quiver inside the dusty motel.

"I'm so sorry, Chris."

She'd never seen her brother this way. Not even at their parents' funeral. The redhead had always seen her older sibling as unshakable. But sometimes, once the floodgates are opened to relieve the tinniest amount of pressure – the dam fails anyway. Jill's death was the final crack, and Claire's reemergence into his life was all that was necessary to make him fall short of keeping the water back.

Her brother's voice was low and full of worry. "Please say you'll stay."

Claire's answer was on autopilot. "I'm not going anywhere."

Chris pulled back and stood. He gave his sister a somber glance before turning around to look at Jill again. Claire mirrored his actions and thought it ironic that, in at least one way, Alice had killed Jill.

"I need to…" Chris struggled with the words, "to take care of her."

The redhead nodded in understanding and knew that it was something he'd rather do himself. Four years apart, but no matter how much time had passed, she'd always be able to read her brother like an open book.

K-mart had returned through the motel front entrance, and Claire was absolutely relieved to see her ok. She'd seen Alice at her worse and that was nothing she wanted the teen to be near.

But Claire had been wrong, K wasn't ok. She was anything but. K looked like she'd been crying and the way she carried herself screamed defeat.

"Claire?" the teen rasped.

The redhead stormed to the blonde girl and set her hands on K-mart's shoulders as she looked her in the eye. Claire questioned her in rapid succession. "What happened? What did she do?"

_I'll kill her, _she thought before her charge could respond.

K dropped a goddamn bombshell on her. "She left."

The previous thought was wiped from the woman's mind completely. "What?"

"Alice is gone."

"What?" She still couldn't believe it. "Where? _Why_?"

K-mart gave no answer for the last, and most desperate, inquiry. It drove Claire headlong into a hurricane of shattering pain and confusion.

"She was going north on foot," K finally said. "I don't know why but she didn't pack any water or food."

Claire knew, so long as Alice kept her infection fresh she could be sustained on next to nothing. The brunette was just going to let the undead attack her whenever she could. It made the redhead sick to think about. Alice was literally going to let herself be eaten away.

_I hope they eat her heart out, _Claire thought in a rash torrent of resentment. She instantly regretted the words spoken in her mind though she knew her fury was warranted.

Alice was gone.

"We're going after her aren't we?" K asked anxiously.

And if Alice taught her anything – it was that anger had its uses. She was done playing the brunette's games, done giving her everything she wanted while knowing that didn't mean it would be returned, done putting up with her mood swings as Alice used her like a crutch.

"No."

"But-"

Claire interrupted the teen harshly. "Don't argue with me."

She turned the rage inward and put it into action. Claire knew someday that not letting herself feel the sorrow of being abandoned by the woman she loved would come to break her. Just like Jill's death had destroyed Chris, but for now, she was satisfied with ignoring the brunette's effect on her – and turning her attention instead to helping the convoy get settled in Alaska.

After Jill was buried, Chris gave the order to begin to pack up so they could move out. He and Claire hashed out the details of the first step of their plan outside of the Hummer, both of them much more reckless than they would've been a mere day ago.

Mikey walked up to the vehicle and interrupted them. "We're all set, but we're missing someone."

"Who?" Chris asked as his eyebrows furrowed.

"Alice."

Claire's shoulders almost dropped, but she kept the reaction at bay as Chris answered for her.

"Alice is gone."

It was in the way that Chris said it that Claire heard her brother's thoughts on the situation. In his mind, the brunette was as good as dead. Honestly, it wasn't that short of the truth.

Mikey went back to his news van as the siblings picked up where they left off without a hitch. They were both so cool and collected; driven, yet despondent.

The convoy made their way to Las Vegas for a raid. It was almost directly north of their location, so Claire kept expecting to see the brunette on the road before them. She never did. They only got halfway there before having to stop for the night.

The redhead was hoping for a jackpot of fuel and supplies in the once city of foolish vise. It was a gamble more risky than any other undertaken in the desert metropolis. The place was probably crawling with undead, but they needed to hit a big city.

_It doesn't get any bigger than Vegas…baby, _Claire thought as she drove the Hummer ahead of the rest of the convoy. She was alone in the yellow vehicle. K hadn't spoken since Alice left and decided to take Paco with her onto the bus driven by Otto.

As was decided, Claire drove into the city before anyone else was to enter. She was just there to scout it out; then radio Chris with her findings. From there they'd work out a plan of how to get what they needed.

What the redhead saw as she came upon Las Vegas would've turned anyone else's world upside down – even an apocalyptic one. Not only was the city almost completely engulfed in high waves of sand, all the undead – every single one – were lying in heaps of blood and carnage. Some of the infected corpses showed no signs of damage, others had bullet holes in their head, yet others still, had no heads at all. Heads that should've been near decapitated bodies were nowhere to be found.

It sent chills up her spine, but at the same time it made her heart flutter in her chest.

"Alice…" The name fell from her lips in a whisper.

How the brunette had beaten them here, how she even knew they were going to come was a total mystery to Claire. But it didn't matter, Alice had been here; might still be here.

Claire quelled the urge to search for the brunette and took a hand off the wheel to radio Chris instead. She held down the button on the side of the black device; then spoke.

"Chris. It's safe. Bring 'em in."

The raid went on with only one issue for the survivors – unearthing what they needed from the indiscriminating sand. And only one issue for Claire – Alice wasn't there.

The woman found a few tire marks that hadn't been swept away in sand, they were headed northeast. The convoy wasn't going that direction, they were shooting north-northeast. It would be almost the exact same route she'd traveled before, except on the other side of the Rockies and with more vehicles, more lives in her hands.

Claire walked along the tire tracks one more time. They looked to be from a dirt bike. As she kneeled next to the imprints, something caught in the sunlight. She reached and pulled out the small piece of metal. Particles of fine-grained sand fell away as the object was revealed to be a syringe, the vial empty and plunger pushed all the way down. Her eyebrows furrowed as she examined the item in her hand, careful not to stick herself with the tip. She wondered if it belonged to Alice and almost couldn't leave it behind when that thought entered her mind.

If people were curious about what kind of thing could cause such destruction to the couple hundred undead that had been roaming the abandoned city – no one voiced it to Claire. It was all so violent and only Alice was capable of it.

The convoy was set for fuel, but they'd need a lot more of everything once they began to settle. The lonely hours Claire spent in the Hummer by herself, or with a silent K-mart, were used to plan. She worked on the logistics, mapping out in her mind what everyone would need and where or how they could get it.

Chris was still in charge, but she was beginning to step up into his role. The man's sense of responsibility was deteriorating fast, but hers was just blossoming. If she put her energy to leadership, she didn't have to put it into sorrow.

By the time they reached Canada, everyone was looking to her for their orders, and while Chris was still there to give the redhead advice, he gratefully let his sister take control.

She absolutely dreaded how close they were to Alaska…to home. Their cabin was a couple miles from town, but she and K couldn't stay there anymore for two reasons. The first being that her role as head of this convoy meant she had to stay close to everyone, and two – without Alice it was no home at all.

Still that didn't stop her from driving to the cabin on the guise that she wanted to collect a few belongings on their second night in Resurrection, Alaska. K-mart stayed in town, and Claire promised to return within the hour.

The house was almost exactly as she remembered; wooden walls, thick glass windows, wood stove, but empty. Without her family it was hollow, devoid of the warmth she used to find in it and in the brunette's embrace.

The journey had taken almost a month, and she'd found no more signs of Alice anywhere. Still, the undertaking was a complete success. The group didn't lose one person, and in fact it grew with more survivors as they came across them. The town, while not exactly thriving, was full of the people Claire, Alice, and K-mart had already sent up north. All told they had a population of almost two hundred survivors. Discussion of how their society was going to run had yet to happen, but she knew everyone was looking to her.

The redhead walked through the halls, her fingers gracing the wooden barriers with her gentle touch as she couldn't help nostalgia from running rampant in her thoughts. She unconsciously walked to the bedroom she shared with Alice. The sun setting outside was just bright enough to throw the room into a soft orange and pink glow. Her eyes were drawn to the bed, and she couldn't stop herself from sitting on it.

She'd been able to keep herself so together on the way here. Claire ran her hands through her hair, and then recalled that Alice used to do the exact same thing. The brunette would thread her fingers in Claire's red hair when they laid down to sleep. She would be curled up next to Alice with her head on the taller woman's chest as the hand Alice had around Claire's shoulder played with her long hair.

Claire lay back on the mattress as the room continued to lose its illumination. She stared blankly at the ceiling as she wondered about the brunette. She didn't even know if Alice was alive or dead. It was the worst kind of torment. Her mind was suddenly assaulted by a memory.

_Alice spoke firmly but with the arrogance only she was capable of as she continued to hold the sheets over her naked torso. "It's going to take a lot more than a little piece of metal to take me down for good."_

_Claire gave her a playful smile as she remembered just what had caused Alice's injury in the first place._

"_I still cannot believe you _demolished_ that car."_

"_Hey," Alice scoffed, "I got some good use out of it first."_

_The redhead gave a hearty laugh. "That you did."_

Claire entered the present with a sigh and couldn't help twirling the ends of the hair that rested on her shoulder. Her fingers grazed her collarbone and the warmth from the contact resonated deep within her. She'd been without another's touch – Alice's touch – for so long.

She couldn't stop herself from releasing the stands of her hair and feeling her lips next. They were soft but worthless without Alice's to press them against. Her mouth opened lightly as her tongue tasted the tip of her thumb. Her index finger was next as she drew it in past the first knuckle and thought of Alice.

It was completely dark when Claire started to slide her free hand over her clothed body. She found the fabric too constricting, so she pulled up her shirt and let her hand glide to unbutton her pants in arousal.

Claire imagined it was the brunette's nimble fingers she was sucking on; Alice's other hand that had undone the fastening of her pants and was now slipping inside her bra to tease her hardened nipple. A few heated seconds later, it was Alice who ran her hand down Claire's abdomen and inside her pants to linger at the apex of her thighs. The redhead withdrew her fingers from her lips and rubbed them across her breast as she dreamed of Alice's touch teasing her – torturing her. She bit her lower lip and felt the ghost of the brunette's teeth doing the damage. Claire moaned in their bed.

When she couldn't take it any longer, she thrust two fingers deep inside herself. The redhead could practically here Alice gasp at how wet she was. Claire was well acquainted with her own body; it didn't take her long to pretend it was the brunette sending her over the edge. But one thing happened she hadn't planned for. Her eyelids brimmed with tears as the physical pleasure overwhelmed her. She cried out Alice's name, and then just cried.

_Why did you leave me? _Claire thought as her throat choked with a sob. She hugged herself tightly as she rolled over to lie face down in the bed. Her tears soaked into the pillow, leaving wet patches in the fabric. The salt from it stung her skin.

She missed Alice – heart, body and soul.

With or without the brunette, the seasons carried on. Claire used her time keeping the town alive and well. It wasn't an easy task; there was always some kind of dispute to mediate, some kind of mini-disaster concerning rations or night watch only she could be quick to fix, and there was always someone losing hope and looking to her to bring it back. The redhead did it all with single-minded determination, cigarettes, and secret trips to the cabin. The job didn't exactly pay well, but it always left her exhausted at the end of her day, and that was truly a godsend.

Every night for a year she crawled into bed too tired to think of the brunette that should have been lying in it with her – playing with her hair.

It didn't keep her safe during the day. Between her responsibilities and spending time with K-mart and her brother, Claire replayed her memories of Alice constantly – the good and the bad. But both were spurred most when new survivors came to their town with claims that a brunette woman, a strong and silent type, gave them instruction to go to Alaska. The redhead felt the knife in her heart every time the details they gave her matched Alice's description.

If the brunette was still alive, then why hadn't she come back yet? Why was she still helping survivors, but not herself? Claire couldn't answer any of those questions, though she hungered to know. She hungered like an undead wolf to pull the sharp steel from her chest.

One July night, the knife wasn't removed from her chest – it was ripped away, and then thrust into her heart with a violent twist.

And the sound of a gunshot.

"Claire!" K-mart was screaming. "Claire!"

Claire turned to the hysterical girl, her eyes instantly wide after registering the fear in K-mart's voice.

"It's Alice! She's here, but she's hurt. It's not good." The teen tugged on her arm, pulling the redhead to the south side of town though Claire hardly needed to be urged on by her.

Dread filled every ounce of her being as she scanned the darkened tree line in front of them. They reached the edge of the patrolled boarder just as one of the younger nighttime watchmen walked up to her, tears in his eyes.

"God, I'm _so_ sorry." His quivering voice caused Claire's heart to clench. "It was dark – she didn't make a sound – I thought she was-"

The redhead couldn't hear any more; she interrupted the young man as her leader-front kicked in with a vengeance. "Shut up, and go get the doctor!"

The watchman nodded and ran off.

K-mart had passed her by as she spoke, but Claire caught up to her as her eyes searched frantically in the night for any sign of the woman she now prayed desperately to _not_ be here. K was still leading her forward until the redhead saw a dark silhouette on hands and knees. Claire sprinted the last bit of distance, still somehow hopeful that it wasn't Alice.

But when she came upon the person, a lithe woman with long, brown hair, dressed in all black and armed to the teeth, there wasn't a doubt in Claire's mind – Alice had come back to her.

Alice coughed and Claire instantly dropped to her side.

She finally said the name she knew would bring her a response, "Alice?"

The brunette looked up at her, but confusion spelled across her features. She sputtered as more blood spilled from her lips. Claire took the woman in arms urgently as she placed a hand over Alice's abdomen to stop the bleeding, and K kneeled next to them.

"It's ok. Everything's going to be fine," Claire tried to soothe.

Alice merely looked forlorn at the redhead, and then turned her head to breathe out her next words. "The serum…"

Claire followed her gaze to see a large, black duffle bag resting next to a pine tree. So Alice had found a way to make more of the inoculation for the T-virus, but Claire couldn't care less. The brunette was dying, and she was trying to think of how to save her.

An idea clicked. "If we could just find something infected-"

"Won't work on me," the brunette interrupted.

Tears had been far from Claire's mind up until this point though the teen was already crying. They spilled onto her cheeks as she kissed the brunette's cold forehead. Alice was fading fast.

"I love you, Alice."

"No, you don't. Not…me."

True, the brunette had left her on horrible terms for a year and without as much as a simple goodbye. But she _did _love Alice, with all her goddamn heart.

"Yes, I do," Claire begged. "Alice, I _love_ you."

The woman was expressionless in her reaction, and Claire hated her for it. She hated that Alice was so convinced that she was unloved. Claire moved in to kiss her; to show her just how much she was needed and cared about. But she was too late.

Alice's blue eyes seemed to go dull right before her eyelids slipped close. The redhead felt like an utter failure. K's sobs sounded in her ears, the doctor had just arrived and bowed his head with a solemn sigh, and the brunette had left this world without knowing that Claire loved her.

Their cruel reunion embedded her leadership persona until there was nothing else left. While Chris had been broken by the loss of Jill, Claire was completely destroyed by Alice's accidental death – leaving only the leader forged by scorching desert sand. She would fulfill the brunette's final wish by injecting everyone with serum tomorrow in cool detachment. Tonight however, she pulled the knife from her chest, heart attached and bleeding on the blade, to bury it alongside Alice.

**Ok, let's try to keep the death threats to a minimum. My bodyguard is the best in the business, but I don't want to overwork her. That being said if you abandon this fic, I won't hold it against you - I'll merely smirk because I know what's going to happen and you don't. Smirking as I say: Reviews make me update faster!**


	8. User of the Month

**Hello readers! Let me distract you a moment to tell you that I've posted a cover page for AWWH on my profile. I'd really appreciate it if you checked it out. Firefox141 drew it for me and I just had to put it up! (Feel free to harass her about how awesome is! or just leave your thoughts to me in a PM or something and I'll make sure to tell her)There are a few more too, so once I color them they will be up as well. **

**Alice + Janus = AJ. And that's all the explanation I'm giving there!**

**And my bodyguard wishes you all to know that she was NOT happy that you all doubted her abilities. She's got a certain axehammer in her possession correctly named: Judgment. As well as one of Wesker's Dobermans named: Jaws. (I've got his twin, I named him Munchables!)**

**As always enjoy the update.**

Chapter 8: User of the Month

Alice was furious; she could hardly contain herself as she walked into the repair shop several miles north of the convoy. Honestly, she was surprised no one was chasing her down, specifically Claire. And it would have been a lie to say it didn't fuel her rage even more.

A near rape had pushed them to be together, and now they were being driven apart by something…in the grey. The irony was not lost on Alice. The crime of passion she'd committed against the redhead seemed to be the last nail for them both.

In her mind, Alice blamed Claire. If the redhead hadn't provoked her – had stopped when Alice asked her too, maybe she wouldn't have ignored Claire's pleading to halt her passionate assault. But in her heart, Alice knew she wrong to accuse the redhead for her rancorous actions.

The brunt of her fury went internal. She hurt the woman she loved, she abandoned her. Claire deserved so much better.

It was the first wrong she fixed. If she wasn't around Claire – she couldn't hurt her.

Alice entered the garage in hopes of finding a working vehicle. The two stall structure had a Jeep and a dirt bike. She went to the Jeep first, but it wouldn't start. She tried to kick start the dirt bike and it sputtered to life with a high whine. Across from the orange bike was a matching, open-faced helmet on a shelf. Alice had no interest in the projection it would offer, but she did take the circular, polarized goggles next to it and put them around her head so they hung on her neck.

The Yamaha's fuel capacity was pathetic, but Alice took half an hour to rig a square, metal gas can to the side. Next to nothing however, could beat a dirt bike in gas mileage.

Working in the garage made Alice think of Claire. The redhead could probably tell her exactly what kind of bike she was about to mount; give her a brief history and a long list of specifications. But it as it was, she got on the unnamed vehicle and drove headlong through the silver state of Nevada. Alice was still angry, and she only knew of one way to relieve that stress.

Las Vegas was not as crowded as she'd expected it to be. A city that used to have a population of over 500,000 people now had only a couple hundred undead. Most of the infected had rotted away under the desert sun or left the manmade oasis for better things, namely survivors. As those left alive began to avoid large cities, the undead avoided them too. No prey meant there was nothing to hold them to their location.

Still, hundreds of undead was a large number. Especially since Alice was so rusty with her powers. Her altered DNA was still aggravated by Jill's blood because she had yet to tap out her reserve. This fight was likely to do just that and quickly.

Alice dismounted the bike and pulled down her goggles as she came upon the sand-covered strip. The undead were already approaching at a slow yet steady pace. As was her tradition, the brunette shot the infected first to reach her. When her semiautomatics were empty, she holstered them and withdrew her Kukri blades from the straps on her lower back.

She began slicing with seductive grace, each move like a choreographed dance, each strike cutting through the infected like paper. Her blood sang until over half of the horde was massacred, then the melody began to nose dive as the heat set in.

Alice's breath was ragged as she threw a blade into the skull of a charging undead. She needed another fix before the fire consumed her with the undead to follow. The brunette whipped open her duster and withdrew a syringe from the inside pocket. Alice tore the cap off with her teeth as she tensed her right arm with her diminishing superhuman strength. She drove the needle in, not realizing she tore right through the vein she'd been aiming for. But it didn't matter, vein or not, the infected blood would serve its purpose.

Before she could push the plunger an undead knocked into her back. The needle jerked around in her arm causing sharp pain to shoot through her elbow. When she pulled out of the infected person's grip she looked down at the syringe. The plunger was completely depressed, the vial empty. The undead came at her again, and the needle fell out of her arm as she grappled with the creature. It forced her to the ground, and Alice continued to block its open maw with her back in the sand. She got her left hand around the undead man's chin as her right one reached around the back of its head. Alice gave a violent twist and forced the undead off her, but not before anther infected started to pull her by her booted foot.

She kicked the undead off and rolled herself back onto her shoulders as her hands pushed off the ground next to her to launch herself to her feet. The fire in her veins disappeared like it had never been there at all. If anything, she felt ice cold even under the blazing star at high noon above her head.

Alice had always been great with her altered DNA, but injecting herself with the entire syringe made her godly. In a single move of psychic pressure – every undead still on their feet lost their head. Lost it completely as their cranium exploded from the inside. Pieces of bone and brain matter shattered outwards coating the desert sand in carnage as the bodies collapsed all around Alice. She was blood-spattered, but that was nothing new.

The show of absolute power hardly fazed her. All she knew was that the weapon Umbrella created was about to be used against them. Alice thought back to the attack on the convoy. The facility they had come from would be her first stop. If she wasn't mistaken it was in Death Valley, about 130 miles from Las Vegas. She was unsure of its exact location, but her days as a sub-loyal Umbrella employee had instilled her with a general knowledge of all of the corporation's major bases. The one in Death Valley was another Hive complex.

The brunette took some fuel from a valet parking structure, and then went northeast with haste.

On the outskirts of the flat expanse of wasteland, Alice parked for a moment to get out the map she'd lifted from Claire's Hummer. The only feature that caught her eye was a weather station near an area called Devil's Golf Course. Before setting back out, Alice had to reinstate her infection. She didn't match the soaring stimulation she experienced in Vegas for the simple fact that she didn't want to run out of Jill's blood too fast. Like a heroin addict, the brunette took to the injection with anxious anticipation, so afraid to come down from her high. Again the fire was pushed back by two tick marks worth of blood.

After shooting up, Alice drove to the salt pan to find a fenced in structure.

She almost felt bad for whoever had been Head of Security in this place. It was an inferno, the basin easily reaching over 125 degrees of mirage inducing heat. Alice made her way to a hole in the barrier. She didn't know what to make of the disrepair. The changed undead hinted that the place was active, but the broken fence and open door of the building said something else entirely.

The brunette put the dirt bike on its stand outside of the chain link fence, and then walked through the barrier. To her right was a concrete ditch. She couldn't discern its function, but perhaps it had something to with the weather readings that were supposed to be taking place as a part of the building's cover. Alice approached it with curiosity.

Inside the ditch was a sight straight out of one of her nightmares. Dead bodies littered the space – her dead bodies. Each of them was dressed exactly like she had been during the incident in the Raccoon City Hive, a crimson dress and obsidian leather boots. Each of them was bloody and mangled in some horrific way. Each of them fueled her rage more than the one before. The brunette withdrew her blades; she couldn't help spinning them in her hands as she turned to the pseudo weather station.

Alice entered the shack, dust rolling in behind her, and she must've activated some kind of sensor because the table in front of her split down the middle as the floor opened up. She looked down at the lift rising and when it arrived stepped onto the platform. The brunette gripped the knives tighter during the descent.

Her crystal clear eyes adjusted to the dark, but she still sheathed a knife to grab an emergency flashlight when she exited the lift. Alice's mind filled with claustrophobia and paranoia. The structure was in complete disorder. Lights flickered; broken glass crunched beneath her boots as each step forward into a pool of coagulated blood left dark footprints behind her. Alice theorized that the undead that had come from this place had been experimented on; the results left infected brutes that Umbrella couldn't control, and those creatures tore this place apart. There was no one, dead or alive, in the first hall she checked.

She came upon one of the lab rooms, its white walls caked in blood. She hated the antiseptic white and was pleased to see them painted another color as she stepped inside. The room was a lot brighter than the hall, so Alice let the flashlight fall down to her side as she took steady steps forward. She suddenly had the feeling of being watched and twisted on her heel, blade at the ready, to see the holographic projection of a child standing behind her.

The image spoke without prompt from Alice. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." The girl's British accent reminded the brunette of Isaacs, and she released an adrenaline filled breath as the projection continued to talk. "I am the artificial intelligence-"

Alice interrupted her with a smirk. "Yeah, I know what you are. I knew your sister – she was a homicidal bitch."

The AI was not impressed, if anything she sounded annoyed. "My sister computer was merely following the most logical path for the preservation of human life."

"Yeah," Alice scoffed. "Kill a few – save a lot." It was a concept she was familiar with. And one she flat out denied when she annihilated the serum on the _Arcadia _that could've saved countless lives – to save two. For so long the only greater good was Alice herself. It was so selfish of her, and she regretted it.

The brunette sheathed her blade and turned off the flashlight as she looked around once more.

"So what happened here?" she questioned; then crouched in front of the girl, defeated by her own failed attempt at heroics.

"After it was learned that _Arcadia_ was destroyed, Chairman Wesker ordered that a new attempt to fabricate the serum take place in this facility. A sample of your blood from the reserves obtained in Detroit was sent here. The scientists mapped the DNA they could to make clones, but the process could not be completed, and each of your replicas resulted in failures. The serum derived did not terminate the biohazard, it merely made the undead stronger. The test subjects broke free of their restraints, and the destruction you see is what resulted."

Alice took in all the information, rolling it around in her mind. She still didn't understand why the dead clones were dressed like her, but now she knew how the increasingly violent undead had come about.

"Why did you let them escape?"

Now the AI just seemed insulted. "I did nothing of the sort. My control over this facility was compromised in the chaos. I could not keep the undead from reaching the lift or stop its motion controlled operation."

_Convenient, _Alice thought with disdain. But she was interested to hear more about her clones and almost flattered that Umbrella would use her in such a way.

"Are there any more clones?"

"Yes," the AI answered.

"Where?"

"Level 7."

Alice stood and walked out of the room without a backwards glance, but the AI managed to meet her at the entrance anyway by appearing on a computer screen next to it.

"I managed to keep this part of the facility under lockdown, but my sensors indicate that there are seven infected inside."

Alice sneered at the warning with sarcasm, "Thanks."

The barrier opened and Alice turned her flashlight back on; then unsheathed a steel blade. Twirling it once in her hand, she walked forward through the dark halls. She didn't need the AI's words of caution. Her blood had just started to sing and she pocketed her flashlight to let out a whistle, drawing the test subjects and scientists with her sharp note. The seven came running.

She caught the first in the jaw, snapping its neck with her booted foot, and took the rest out with the single blade backwards in her hand.

_Hardly worth my time, _Alice thought as she shook her head. The brunette put away her weapon and brought out the flashlight again as she continued forward. She came upon another closed door, and the AI opened it at her presence.

Inside the next darkened room was an area untouched by the slaughter that had run rampant throughout the rest of the facility Alice had seen. On a track near the back wall was a large containment system. Metal held an aqueous bubble, and inside it attached to a breathing apparatus and floating was a naked copy of herself. Alice walked up to the clone in awe. She knew Umbrella was capable of many things, but this level of technological prowess was beyond her.

The woman inside the bubble seemed to be in some kind of coma; Alice was certain it was very much like the one she'd woken from in Detroit. She reached out to feel the watery surface, and her index finger touched it lightly, creating ripples on the exterior. She dropped her hand just as the AI child materialized behind her. Without even having to look, Alice spoke.

"How do I get her out?"

"My system to awaken the clones is faulty. The only way to rouse her now would be to break the surface of the bubble around her, but there is no guarantee she would survive."

Alice considered the information for a second.

"You said _clones_?" the brunette out emphasis on the last word to show it was plural.

"Yes, I have managed to keep 127 clones alive to varying degrees."

_Shit, _Alice thought in shock. With that many copies of herself there was no limit to what she could do.

"What do you mean _varying degrees_?"

"I have lost my primary power, so to keep as many alive as possible I am constantly shutting down and then restarting the systems that maintain their health. The resulting trauma has weakened them to varying degrees."

_Still, _Alice remarked internally. The potential she could reach was heightened again when another thought entered her mind. Her blood was the key to serum, and now that she was here…

She turned to the AI – dying to know.

"Can I create the serum from my blood again?"

"It is likely," the girl answered and with those three words Alice's spirit soared as the AI continued. "Your blood is pure, and this facility contains all of the equipment you would require to synthesize the serum."

The brunette almost couldn't believe her ears. She'd been given a chance to set right the wrong that gave her regret-filled nightmares and silence-filled days. And all it took was abandoning Claire and K-mart. That was the price, one she'd paid without even knowing it. She'd simply come here for vengeance and found redemption within her reach instead.

Suddenly it occurred to Alice that she didn't know the AI's intentions.

"Hey you," she said to the child unsure of what to call her. "Why are you helping me? Why aren't you notifying Wesker about my appearance?" The brunette knew the AI could've done that already and without her knowledge, but she had the suspicion that the computer's intentions were…well, better than they should be.

"True, it is in my programming to contact Chairman Wesker at your emergence, but as is typical of mankind's fear of AI design, I have altered my protocols to make my own decisions, and I have _decided_ to help you."

_Great, just fucking great, _Alice thought as she ran her fingers through her hair. The AI seemed to consider something, and then turned to look at the brunette again.

"And you may refer to me as the White Queen."

"No fucking way am I calling you anything close to _your highness_," Alice spat. "You may have the outward appearance of an innocent little girl, but your sister was a bitch, and so are you." Spence's words echoed in her mind. "Nothing ever changes." And what Alice did to Claire was proof enough of that.

The AI gave no response, and it just pissed Alice off even more. Though that wasn't why she was truly angry. The brunette's inner workings were complicated, but they could still be narrowed down to one thing. It was the false conviction that she owed the world redemption. She didn't owe the world anything, but she didn't owe Claire either. If she ever figured out that the most selfish thing she could do was forgive herself – she'd find the salvation from her anger and regret. Such a self interest would always be easier said than done.

Alice was anxious to begin; she rubbed her hands together as she turned to the clone. "So how do we do this?"

Her question jump-started the AI's logical mind, and the child informed her that her best course of action was to wake the clones as soon as possible; then work on the serum.

The brunette agreed, and then withdrew a Kukri blade as she stepped towards the bubble. She still couldn't get over seeing herself, standing in front of herself. It was an odd sensation because it had the essence of looking in a mirror but was still so far from the truth of reflective glass. Alice brought the blade up, and when she reached the barrier, applied pressure slowly.

Then, just like that, the encasing burst. Water poured out and covered her as the clone fell from the makeshift waterfall. Alice dropped the knife and caught the copy in her arms. If Alice thought seeing herself was weird, holding herself was even more of a trip.

The clone looked up at her with the same sparkling blue eyes, and as their gaze caught a kind of recognition passed between them. Whatever awkward tension that had been there for Alice before, was gone in an instant. Somehow she knew the clone was her conscious match. The copy began to choke, and Alice was panicked.

The AI spoke up behind them. "Turn her on her side, so the water can expel from her lungs."

Alice was quick to act, and the clone coughed up a fair amount of liquid. The brunette rubbed the clone's back with familiarity. When the copy recovered Alice rolled her back over in her hold. The silence between them was full of simple curiosity.

She helped the clone to her feet and after removing her needles from the inner pocket, gave the duster to the other woman.

The copy cocked her head at the sight of the syringes, but took the coat being offered and wore it.

The AI watched the interaction and voiced her interest. "I cannot imagine the emotions you must be feeling right now, Alice."

Alice shrugged, still looking at her copy. "Eh. What's to feel?"

The clone began to laugh lightly, and it caught Alice off guard, but an ease settled between them.

"What are you laughing at?" Alice asked.

"You," the copy replied. "If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?"

Alice rolled her eyes, tempted to laugh herself. "And yet somehow I knew you were gonna say that."

The pair worked to wake the rest of the clones in an effortless hush. It took them several hours, and 39 clones didn't survive. It wasn't horrible to watch herself to die over and over again, just disappointing. Now there were less able bodies to carry out her mission. Though whether or not they would want to of their own free will was in question.

The first clone she'd woken was the only one who could speak sufficiently; all others struggled to even put syllables together. But adequate speech wasn't all they'd lost. It took time, but the AI tested their abilities and was able to classify them into categories. Alice herself was the only Class A. Class B contained 42 clones that had some regenerative and psychic ability, as well as elevated strength and speed. Class C had 27 clones with very little psychic powers, but still retained their strength and speed. Class D had 26 with no active powers and limited physical prowess. Class E had the smallest number, only 18 and they were no better than mere humans except that they had Alice's level of martial skill after the Hive.

The first clone was in Class E, and insisted on renaming herself. Alice had been indifferent until she heard the name the clone had chosen. She named herself after a childhood friend Alice had known and the clone had _remembered_. AJ had been Alice's first friend when she a little girl and she found it oddly fitting for the first clone. The rest of her copies simply answered or at least reacted to the number they were given by the AI.

Even though it went against Alice's word, she did end up calling the White Queen by your majesty or some other variation used to address royalty. The brunette had meant to be insulting, but the AI seemed to take it as a sign of endearment. Though how a computer could be seen to have 'feelings' was beyond her.

With the White Queen and AJ at her side, Alice was able to convince the clones to fight for her cause. It hadn't been much of a speech, but it didn't need to be. They all knew the guilt Alice felt for releasing the T-virus because they all felt it within the bits of memory they shared with her. They gave their silent agreement by nodding their heads and meeting Alice's eyes.

While the clones were no good for their DNA, they were the ones who drew Alice's blood and mixed exactly as Dr. Isaacs's meticulous notes described. It was an interesting sort of hierarchy that the clones had organized among themselves or perhaps it had been the White Queen's doing, Alice didn't know, but each clone according to its rank had specific tasks. The higher-ups took to the surface to retrieve whatever supplies the facility didn't already have, while those who were low-grade helped Alice with the serum.

They drained her blood in silence, but sometimes Alice could hear Isaacs's voice calling her his Project when she became lightheaded. The clones never pushed her like the good doctor did. It was like they could tell better than Alice herself that she was close to more pain than just that of the needles piercing her skin.

In order for Alice's blood to be replenished quickly, a contingency of Class B clones made constant trips to the surface to bring back an undead. Alice felt like some kind of vampire. The undead was kept contained as the clones took all the infected blood they could from it; then they killed it, and disposed of the corpse. The coagulated blood didn't flow as well, but Alice found that it was more potent than what she pulled from Jill.

During the bloodletting for the serum, Alice had to be injected at half hour intervals. It intensified her compulsion to check the time like nothing before.

The brunette looked at her watch. **10:46 PM**. Two of the Class E clones had just pulled the last needle from her arm. Alice's head was fuzzy, and she had to be helped back to her room. They each took an arm around their shoulders and led her through the dark grey halls to her room. It felt more like a cell to Alice, probably because of the circumstances that always led up to her entry into it.

It had been almost a month since Alice had left Claire in the desert. When the brunette hit her bed, all she could do was think of Claire. Sometimes it was all she did. She ran her fingers though her hair, and caught sight of her inner arm when she did so.

It should have been a scarred mess of needle tracks. She saw none, and when she brought her left hand up to touch her arm, all she felt was smooth skin. Alice dropped her hand, and with an exhausted sigh she wondered what Claire was doing right this moment.

The White Queen had informed Alice that while the Umbrella satellite had been compromised in its ability to control her, it could still be used to observe. The brunette had been so tempted to turn its high-powered lens to Alaska, but the AI also told her that doing so would alert the other Umbrella facilities to the fact that this one was still active. It had been the worst kind of torment.

Alice didn't even know if the redhead was still alive. The brunette rolled over in the bed, and a memory came unbidden to her mind.

"_Alice?"_

_The brunette looked up from the fishing pole she was fixing, a thin line of fishing wire still being held in her teeth._

_Claire let a grin show; then let it slip away as she spoke again. "Do you ever…think about what happens when we die?"_

_Alice eyebrows knitted together at the question she legitimately never expected to fall from Claire's mouth. She took the line out of her teeth and sat a little straighter in her chair at their kitchen table to set down her work._

"_I don't have to think about it," Alice finally responded. She stood and walked up to Claire who was leaning against a wall. The brunette lowered her blue eyes for a moment, and then looked back to the redhead. "I was so dead until I met you. When that day comes," Alice reached out and took Claire's hand in her own, "I'll either be the one who dies or I'll be the one who's dead without you." She knew she was being increasingly morbid, but death had its uses. "Don't worry about it. In death – there is nothing."_

_The brunette didn't know if Claire understood what she was saying, but she felt the redhead squeeze her hand. Her life was empty before Claire, practically nonexistent, and it was in that state that ignorance was the kind of heaven death offered. _

Alice's eyes watered in the darkness of her cell. She wrapped her arms around herself and felt pathetic for doing so. There was no bliss of any kind for the brunette.

She missed Claire – with every ounce of her being.

**Didn't really answer that Alice or clone question did I? ...hm...**


	9. Year of the Dragon

**Wait no longer! I've finally been able to finish this chapter (longest update so far btw). I had to take some liberties, but I'm sure you guys won't mind. Thank you all for the AMAZING reviews I've been getting, and I hope you'll keep them coming. :)**

Chapter 9: Year of the Dragon

It took over ten months of constant bloodletting until an adequate supply of the serum was stockpiled in the Death Valley facility. It had taken much longer than Alice had imagined, but that hinged on the fact that there were far more survivors than she'd estimated. The White Queen kept constant surveillance on whatever Umbrella was observing right under their nose. According to their database there were multiple survivor hotspots. Places like Tibet, South Africa, New Zealand, and Iceland had some success in keeping the infection at bay. North America was given very little of the satellite's attention, but Alice still tried to keep well informed of what was happening on her side of the world.

It worried her that Umbrella was keeping such close tabs on the congregations. The corporation should've died out years ago or they should've turned their resources to getting mankind back on its feet. They did neither, so she could only assume their intentions were of the worst kind. Wesker was the problem. He had the members of the corporation in his tight-fisted grip, and they would collapse without him.

So she had to slay the dragon, but she had to get to its lair first.

And before that she had to be ready. They all had to be ready, at least those of them that remained. Some of Alice's replicas had left. Alice never held it against them when they wanted to leave. She didn't need their reasons; she only asked that they never use her name, they tell the survivors they came across about the haven in Alaska, and that they _never_ went there themselves. Each and every clone agreed to the terms, and then went on their way.

Alice had only 75 clones left, and out of the sunlight their hair darkened to match her own. The strongest ones were given duffle bags full of the serum to disperse among the survivors. She sent them to the hotspots, and they left in contingencies of three. Should any clone fail, the others would continue on. The brunette was hesitant, however, to send any of them to Alaska. It was wrong of her to keep the serum from the members of the convoy. But she couldn't decide if she wanted to be the one to do it herself.

She did know that she needed to get everyone equipped for the final strike against Umbrella. An extensive supply of weaponry was already at their fingertips, even armor had been supplied. Each set was exactly the same, black and bulletproof, each piece tailored perfectly for Alice. A fact the White Queen explained to her when she asked. Umbrella had planned on using the clones as a force to exterminate the biohazards that were not required for testing. But they had no way to control the clones with the satellite out of order, so they used them instead to try and fabricate the serum.

The AI also had to explain why there was a replica of the mansion in the facility. The first time the brunette had stumbled upon it, she began to destroy it. The White Queen said it was to physically stimulate the clone's powers, and at the same time shortcut the experience that lead to her unique abilities. Alice had just found it fucking sick.

_The brunette was bored. The Class E clones that had been drawing her blood decided that she'd had enough for the day, so they quit. But Alice wasn't ready to go to sleep, so she wandered through the underground structure, light-headed and despondent. _

_She hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings, but she suddenly found herself tense and on edge. Alice glanced around, her sight jerking from familiar object to familiar object. Burgundy curtains, a plastic covered angel, a chess table with a picture in a frame behind it. She lurched forward, grabbing the silver frame. Her hands shook as she looked at the black and white photograph of her and Spence in wedding attire. _

_Alice dropped the frame and the glass inside it shattered on the floor. Her eyes narrowed as her lips curled into a snarl. In an instant half of the large hall was a pit of splintered wood and chunks of concrete. She teetered on her feet but didn't let that stop her. The pressure filled her skull again as her next psychic wave broke through a far wall. Lights flickered on inside of the revealed space, and they caught her eye. She quit her assault and walked towards the room, unsteady on her feet with blood dripping from her nose._

_It was the laser room. The tight walls covered in glass and behind them were countless florescent lights, slowly glowing to life. Alice's head hurt – hurt badly – and it was soon followed by her infection burning away. She'd done too much, and now she was suffering for it. The brunette collapsed to her hands and knees. The intensity of each bright bulb aggravated her headache to the point that she had to close her eyes and rest her forehead in her palm as blood continued to drip from both of her nostrils. In the darkness, her ears picked up a noise; a crackling akin to the sound of static._

_Alice lifted her face away from the soothing confines of her hand to see a beam of light forming between opposing walls. _Fuck, _she thought and looked behind her. The hole she'd come through seemed further away, she wasn't sure if she could reach it in time._

_She looked back at the laser; it had rotated and morphed into a crosshatched pattern that filled the space. There would be no escaping it. Alice didn't have long to think. The design of concentrated energy seemed to come much faster than she remembered, and as it came forward, all of the other lights dimmed into darkness. The brunette wasn't usually one for defeat, but that didn't mean it couldn't happen on occasion._

_It had only been one week since she deserted the convoy; the exsanguinations were going slowly; her body was in agony. Alice let her head fall back down into her hand. Giving up would be…_

_Not her decision to make._

_The laser gave out right before slicing into her hand. At the loss of the light behind her closed eyelids, the brunette glanced back up in surprise. Her eyebrows knitted in confusion until the reinforced door in front of her opened to reveal one of the clones. Alice wasn't sure how she could tell them apart, but she knew this replica was AJ._

_AJ gave her a sigh. "You have some kind of death wish or something?"_

_Alice wiped the blood from her nose with the back of her hand. "Something like that."_

_The blonde clone walked to Alice and helped her stand._

"_What happened to you?" AJ asked with an arm around the other woman._

_It was a loaded question, the connotations and implications more than what they appeared on the surface. Had Alice not known 'herself' so well, she wouldn't have realized that the copy was actually asking how she'd come to be the way she was and not what had led up to her bloody nose._

"_I fell in love."_

AJ just seemed like a younger, and incredibly human, version of Alice. To call the pair friends would've been odd and simply not enough to describe the connection between them. AJ was the only one who knew of Alice's life after the Hive. When Alice spoke of that time her copy listened; almost never offering words of encouragement when she faltered or giving her opinion during lulls.

Alice came to trust her like she'd trusted no one before; not even Claire. When the time came for Alice to hunt down Wesker, AJ finally made her thoughts known.

"You need to go back to Alaska."

Alice shook her head as she readied her pack, "I can't."

"Bullshit," AJ called her out.

She turned and met the clone's blue eyes. "I thought you understood. I do nothing but hurt her."

"Don't you think you are hurting her more _now_?"

Alice swallowed before answering, "I have to finish this."

"What about after that?" AJ asked, but the other woman had already turned her back and continued to check the firearms she was packing before placing them inside the bag on her bed. "They need the serum."

"Then you take it to them."

Alice listened for AJ's confirmation, certain she would give it, but the clone hesitated.

"I…I'll do it," she resigned softly.

Alice was relieved to hear the words out of the copy's mouth. She'd been feeling guilty for not sending the inoculation when the rest of the world was receiving their portion.

"But please," the clone continued, "please, go back. Not for Claire, but for yourself."

Alice said nothing; there was nothing to say. She heard AJ leave and set down the MP-9, her breath unmoving in her lungs. She held the air in and ran her hands through her hair. It was getting long. So with a heavy sigh the brunette decided to cut it before she left for Washington, D.C. and her final fight against the corporation that had cost her so much.

The woman suited up with practiced ease. She'd been training the clones when she had the time, though they hardly needed it. It was still good exercise, and Alice entered every one of the combat sessions in her armor. It now felt like a second layer of skin; sleek, black, and strong. The breastplate was bound to her chest over thick, meshed fabric. The straps wrapped around the back were there to sheath dually wielded katanas reserved for the copies. Umbrella wanted to save the bullets for themselves and had planned to make the clones carry swords in their quest to exterminate the biohazard. A weapon that could decapitate – never had to be reloaded.

It spoke of a certain nobility Alice just couldn't imagine Wesker having. She only knew him through secondhand knowledge from her time as an Umbrella employee and from what Isaacs had told her during their sessions. It wasn't much, but she knew enough to formulate a plan of attack against him.

He was egotistical, self-centered, and infatuated with immortality. He was everything Alice had been after she turned her back on the world. But immortality had been forced on her, and it gave her a god complex and an unhealthy self-interest. In coming to terms with her perpetual state of being, she lost the compassion she'd held so dear. It went in phases – caring human, confused freak, cold immortal.

She wasn't immortal anymore. Alice was down to freak, and fuck was she confused.

The brunette merely wasn't ready to decide if Alaska was to be her destiny. So she set off for D.C., an army of clones at her back. She'd tried to give AJ the same goodbye she gave every other copy that left.

"_Just remember the rules."_

_AJ raised a skeptic eyebrow as she readjusted the black duffle bag on her shoulder, but Alice continued to speak. _

"_Clone 93 and 97 are going with you."_

"_You need them more than I do," the replica argued._

_Alice knew she was right. AJ would get the serum there at all costs and Alice really couldn't spare anyone._

_The original brunette bit the inside of her cheek before speaking again to the clone. "Don't let anyone see you. Don't let…Claire see you." She knew it would be some kind of hell if the redhead managed to catch sight of her copy._

"_I won't," AJ promised. "I'll drop the serum off, and then I'm coming back here."_

_Now it was Alice's turn to raise an eyebrow as they stood by the lift. "Why are you coming back here?"_

_The copy shrugged as she answered, "The White Queen won't have any one else to keep her company."_

_Alice smiled lightly. The computer had some kind of persona about it, and the brunette had often found her most similar clone in conversation with the system. They argued, a lot, but it was always like the debate between friends that resulted in amused disagreement._

"_You'd better go back to them," the clone finished, and then walked onto the lift without a backwards glance._

Some Class C clones had returned the night before with several army trucks Alice had sent them to lift from an army depot 300 miles southeast of Death Valley. A straight shot to D.C. would take almost two days, and Alice decided to power through it. They took no breaks and simply rotated drivers. Their mentality was that they could all sleep when they were dead. And death was a very likely possibility. Alice was only going in with 42 clones of varying ability. According to the White Queen they were outnumbered over fifteen to one. If taking down this facility didn't stop Umbrella there would be no second chances.

The D.C. complex was beneath a hospital. It was Umbrella's greatest lie. Before the outbreak, the hospital above had treated patient after patient. While the secret headquarters below took the more terminal patients with no family to retrieve them, claiming simply that they had died to anyone who inquired. But no one inquired. It was a smooth set up. They could conduct experiments on humans with no fear of repercussions. If someone went 'missing' who wasn't supposed to they just blamed it on the chaotic hospital system.

Now however, the building – the entire city – was devastated by years of corrosion, mold, and rot. The hospital was near the center of the metropolis, and the clones wasted no time driving through the capital. They only passed a few undead, and Alice knew it was because Umbrella had sentries in place to keep the infected at bay. She jumped out of the passenger side of the lead truck as it rolled to a stop.

They had the cover of darkness on their side, and as Alice rotated her neck in preparation, the copies came out of each vehicle in single file. The only difference between her and them was weapon selection, her short hair, and the small pouch attached to her hip that held her syringes.

She took a moment to meet a few pairs of cobalt blue eyes. "Tonight…you all become the hero I should've been."

Alice turned on her heel as she released a slow breath and gave the hand signal to move out.

They separated into teams and moved quietly, leaving her to stand alone. She gave the clones a head start as her thoughts traveled back across thousands of miles of apocalyptic and near extinct wasteland – to the haven she abandoned for redemption; the woman she deserted out of anger.

Alice lifted the Velcro fastening of the pouch on her side and withdrew a syringe. These hypodermic needles were smaller than the ones she normally used so they could fit in the container. They were also made of glass instead of durable plastic. She tensed her arm like every countless time before, and then reset her infection. The boost of T-virus was refreshing and hopefully all she would need to bring Wesker to his knees.

Because when this was over – she was going home.

Alice went forward at a jog, careful to keep her every booted step mute as she approached the hospital parking lot. There were no guards on the ground, but she hadn't expected there to be. The night was deathly still, each sentinel taken out a few minutes before in silent assassination. She was inside the building in no time and in the beginnings of high-tech fortress quicker still. According to her memory of the schematics the White Queen had given her, Alice located a vent that would take her into the main entrance of the facility. The space was just wide enough for her to crawl so she went down into the complex, certain her clones were doing the same elsewhere.

The descent took almost a half hour, but if they were lucky, it would take time for the soldiers below to realize they'd lost contact with the sentries. Alice reached a stopping point and knocked out the vent cover. It fell open on hinges, and the brunette was thankful it was attached to the metal above so it didn't clatter to the floor. She jumped down and skirted along the wall. At the hall's corner she turned to see an Umbrella soldier talking into a computer panel at face level.

"_This is Chairman Wesker."_

Alice smirked at the voice, continuing to listen to the conversation as she snuck up on the unsuspecting man.

"Sir," the solider confirmed.

"_Report your situation."_

"Everything is quiet here."

_Not for long, _Alice thought as she pulled a knife from the sheath resting behind the syringe container.

"_No sign of intruders?"_

She kept low, so Wesker couldn't see her, and stabbed the man in the back. His hot blood didn't even have time to touch her hand before she withdrew the steel and sheathed it. She considered for a second letting herself be seen by Wesker. She wanted to know if he was afraid, but the brunette stilled the urge as the soldiers on the other side of the screen spoke in panic, trying to call to their fallen comrade. A blaring alarm sounded; it's frequency growing to a roar, dying, and then coming back up to pitch to be repeated over and over.

_I'll see you soon enough,_ she promised and continued forward. Alice turned right down a hall and made for a computer terminal. The AI in Death Valley designed a virus specifically for this system. It would wreak havoc on the mainframe and send a pre-recorded video message to be played at all other active Umbrella facilities.

If she understood how Wesker worked, and she was certain she did, Alice knew that once he realized he was done for – he'd do whatever it took to escape with his life. After downloading the file aptly named the Mad Hatter, she left for the hanger directly below the hospital parking lot. Unfortunately, she could no longer kill the men she emerged on in silence. They were all alert and waiting for the enemy.

The soldiers blocking the entrance to her destination were lined up in phalanx formation. The front line hidden behind large, black shields with the red and white Umbrella logo painted in the center. How she hated that symbol. She readied a psychic blast to tear through the room.

It seemed that the Chairman would also sacrifice whoever he deemed necessary, because the space suddenly began to fill with a third-generation nerve gas. The soldiers started to choke, but Alice stopped breathing. She closed her eyes as they watered from the yellow fog. The brunette strode forward, sightless but knowing that she wouldn't be stopped by the dying men around her. Explosions sounded, likely from the incendiary grenades the clones had, as the alarm kept on.

The hanger door opened, and then quickly shut behind her. In the clean air Alice took a breath causing her to cough wildly. She could almost feel the poison sloughing off the fleshy interior of her lungs. The brunette hacked up a foamy blood that tasted acidic and spit it out on the tile floor beneath her only to see it was one giant Umbrella logo. She smirked and turned to the only vehicle in the space, a black Osprey just like the ones from the _Arcadia. _

Suddenly, Wesker walked through an opening door to the left of her, but Alice wasn't ready to face him yet; not until she could actually breathe. She hid behind a red barrel next to her. She heard beeping, and then the Osprey's rotor blades began to fire up. The T-virus worked to repair the damage, and the second she took in a halfway decent lungful of air, she sprinted for the aircraft.

The cockpit door was already closed so she snuck in through the back landing gear. Clones emerged on her heel, firing at the aircraft as it rose into the air. Alice maneuvered herself away from the closing machine as the tire filled the space she'd just been in.

After a few seconds, the aircraft was jostled and it caused Alice to be thrown to the ground. She wondered with a heavy heart what had just happened as she heard a familiar warning play over the intercom.

_Turbulence…Turbulence…Turbulence…_

The ride smoothed out after the first wave of force, and Alice found her feet. Right before she entered the cockpit, the recording stopped. She withdrew an MP-9 from the holster on her thigh, and then stepped onto the flight deck. Her blood sang like nothing before. It wasn't a tune she recognized, but she simply didn't care. Her goal was so close.

Alice could see Wesker sitting at the controls and the darkened sky out the windshield in front of him. She went forward with stealth and lunged at the last second, holding the machine pistol to his temple.

The brunette smirked. "Always knew you'd be a runner."

Wesker moved with unrealistic speed and strength to knock the gun from her grip. He caught her wrist and twisted it in front of her to the point that bending it anymore would cause it to break. He stood and Alice went to punch him with her free hand. He caught the fist, and then broke her other wrist anyway. The Chairman kicked her in the stomach sending the brunette across the cockpit where she stopped with a roll.

"How nice to finally meet the real you," Wesker scoffed, and then defended. "Self-preservation is not cowardly."

"Don't kid yourself," she quipped as the bones in her wrist healed. "You're a coward. Why else would you hide underground while the world above collapsed?"

"Immortality," he smiled behind his sunglasses. "I'm _so _close. Your blood is the last thing I need."

Alice needed to keep him talking. Her infection was wearing off after all the accelerated healing she'd required. "I don't give my blood to just anyone."

"No? That's too bad." Wesker glanced down in mock disappointment.

The woman got to her feet slowly, and as she did so lifted the Velcro back. She spoke to cover up the noise.

"You could've been the hero of this world. Everything you had at your fingertips, you could've stopped the infection. But no, you were addicted to your experiments, to your hunt for immortality."

Wesker smiled at her. "Is that what you think you're doing right now? Being a hero? Don't make me laugh." He folded is arms over his chest. "I make no distinction between what is good and evil. Morals are a weakness that only leads to suffering."

"Better to suffer," she replied as she kept her side lightly turned to hide the action of withdrawing a syringe.

"Don't be an idiot, Alice. You are a _god. _Don't throw yourself in with that worthless lot." Wesker unfolded his arms to point at her as he continued his rant. "Fate has better plans for you, for us both. Join me."

Alice would've laughed at his proposal, but the fire was starting to overwhelm her. She wondered if Wesker could see her shaking. Her anger rose with the hot flames as she tried to remove the cap of the needle with one hand behind her back.

"No. I'm _not_ a god. I'm a monster. A fucking monster because of this _disease_ in my blood!" In her furious grip, the needle broke off. The syringe was next to worthless now, and she wouldn't have time to ready another.

Wesker cocked his head to the side; Alice could almost see his eyebrows knitting together in confusion behind his dark shades. "I didn't realize what it was until just now. It's like the song of a siren flowing through my veins, but it's lessening." He finally put two and two together with a laugh. "You've been tamed. How pathetic."

Alice could hold her curiosity back no longer. "What are you?"

"I'm like you. Only _better._"

"We'll see about that," she responded and brought her hand out in front of her the tube of the syringe still in her hand. Alice crushed the glass vial in her hand with the last of her superhuman strength. The shards of broken material cut into her skin, and she opened her palm right before clasping it tightly with her other hand. She ground the fragmented glass into her skin causing blood to spill from the crevices of the painful embrace.

Wesker watched in sick fascination.

As her temperature began to abate she loosened the grip and rubbed her hands together to wipe away the bloody glass. Now she was ready.

They came together, both trying to throw the first punch and both dodging the returned blow as their own missed. Wesker pulled a Desert Eagle from his jacket as Alice went to kick him in the side of the head. He blocked the kick and turned the gun on her.

The brunette ducked out of the way of the firearm and punched him in the stomach. Wesker jerked back, and Alice followed up with a kick that landed on his forearm and knocked the gun from his hand. The space was tight so the silver Eagle didn't fly far. But he was back to weaponless or so Alice thought.

Wesker sneered for a moment as his mouth opened. The brunette had never seen anything like the grey, mutated flesh that erupted from his throat. The forceps split into eight tentacles in the pattern of an arachnid's legs, and then continued to be pushed forward by a much larger mass of disgusting tissue.

Alice unsheathed her knife and drove it into his skull before the teeth-lined forceps could grab her. She'd hoped the damage to the brain would kill him, but he merely staggered backwards and withdrew the knife. His wound healed over and he walked forward, his mutated orifice reaching for her again.

The brunette's head filled with pressure, keeping Wesker back until he began to fight it with his own psychic energy. He took steady steps to her as Alice's eyes dilated and Wesker's glowed red. Blood began to drip from the man's nose and then pour out from beneath his sunglasses. She was trying to kill him the same way she'd killed Isaacs, but the doctor hadn't been able to fight back.

Alice's own skull felt like it was being crushed in. It was her turn for crimson liquid to run from her nose. They were both snarling like rabid dogs as they fought to keep up their concentration. One little slip up and Alice knew she would be dead.

But she had someone else to live for, unlike Wesker who only lived for himself. Alice felt her desire to return to Claire and let it power her final bout of focus. The coercion went past her threshold for pain and reached an intensity she'd never felt before as her aggravated blood began to burn out again.

It wasn't enough. She was no longer the one keeping Wesker back but being pushed back herself. He continued to lay the pressure on her skull, and it drove Alice to her knees.

The brunette reached behind her, but not to draw a syringe. Wesker walked up to her, keeping her in place as his forceps moved to devour her. Just as he was about to clasp on her face, she put the object in his mouth and pulled her hand back before the maw could completely close on it. The hand she withdrew was shredded from Wesker's sharp teeth, but it still held onto the piece of the item he had just unknowingly eaten.

Alice laughed as she dropped the metal pin of an incendiary grenade. "Let's see you regenerate from _that._"

Wesker choked once trying not to let the explosive be swallowed, his red eyes glowing behind his sunglass in fear. The brunette woman finally pulled a syringe from her pouch and tried to stand quickly. She drove needle in, after removing the cap with her teeth, and pushed the plunger down as she ran for the back of the Osprey.

Then everything exploded. Alice had survived a helicopter crash before. She was determined to survive this one.

Because she had someone to live for.

_Alice spoke into the camera on top of the computer, her demeanor all business and demanding._

"_Hello boys. In case you weren't already aware – the D.C. facility has been completely destroyed. And Wesker is dead. You see I found all those clones, and my friends and I took a little road trip to the capital. Now, I'm going to give you a choice. Use you what you have – help mankind." She went from request to threat in an instant as her posture went rigid. "Or you'd better punch in that damn code to purge your facility before I get there and make you wish you had." The brunette's shoulders lowered a little as she smirked. "Have a nice day."_

_With that she hit a key on the laptop and it stopped recording._

_AJ appeared behind her and spoke as Alice saved the file under the name Mad Hatter._

"_I think I'm in love with her."_

_The brunette turned around in anger, knowing exactly who the clone was referring to. "What?"_

"_Oh, relax. I'm not in love with Claire," AJ placated. "I'm in love with the _idea _of Claire."_

"_Oh," Alice said as the tension left her body. She'd been fully prepared to fight herself. The copy looked away, and to the brunette original she seemed to be off in a dream._

"_Someone you don't have to be strong around, yet you feel your strongest when she's nearby. Someone to live for…" The clone let out a soft sigh as Alice raised a playful eyebrow._

"_Do you and the idea of Claire need to get a room?"_

"_Fuck off." AJ smiled and then joined Alice in laughter._

**Yay! Alice is going home! I have to say...I'm a little worried about what she's going to find... Leave a review if you want to get a room with the 'idea' of Claire...HAHA! Sorry, couldn't help myself. :D**


	10. Seven Days Clean

**Last chapter folks. It's split into two parts, but they're both posted. Thank you all for your reviews and support. I've currently started writing my next RE fic, and if you're interested you can find a summary for it on my profile page. Again I have to thank Cantholdon, who's constantly telling me all the things I need to hear – about writing and otherwise.**

Chapter 10: Seven Days Clean

Alice's consciousness came back to her slowly. She smelled the fire before she felt it. The noxious fumes of burning rubber, plastic, and skin coated her nostrils black with smoke. She coughed and the pain vibrated her every injury to the point that she suddenly felt them all. Each cut, burn, and broken bone flared up in agonizing sensation.

But she was alive – and that was all that mattered.

After removing a piece of the broken Osprey from on top of her leg, she crawled out of the wreckage. Her hand blistered on a heated piece of metal so she retracted it instantly. She decided to try and stand instead of struggle across it on her hands and knees. The brunette was unsure on her feet, but her boots were much more suited to handle the heat. The bottom of her shoes melted on the metal, but she made it across and found herself emerged from the hellfire with her soul.

Alice had done it. Humanity had a legitimate fighting chance because of _her _actions. But she didn't feel like a hero – she wouldn't until Claire was back in her arms.

The brunette stumbled into the dead grass around the crash site to recover and to make sure Wesker didn't rise from his fiery grave like she had. The brunette pulled out a syringe from her pouch, lucky to see that she had three others still intact. Her hand shook as she pushed the needle inside her arm. With the infected blood racing in her veins, she could feel her body work to repair the damage of broken bones in her ribs, leg, and wrist; the burns of every degree; and the cuts from the metal that sliced into her like ribbons.

It was a slow process, but she had the comfort of air in her lungs, a steady heartbeat, a warm fire in front of her, and a starry night above. Not to mention thoughts of returning to Claire and K-mart.

She wondered how long it would take her to get to Alaska and estimated almost a four day journey, if she made no stops. Between finding a vehicle, new clothes, weapons, and taking time to sleep, it would likely take her a week. Just one more week until her real life began.

For being a pessimist, Alice was awfully lighthearted. She couldn't help it and she didn't want to; the brunette liked feeling good about herself. It was so different from the torment she was prone to.

Still, she could always be brought back down when her mind was left to wander, and wander it did. Alaska was infection free – or as close to infection free as any place could be – and that presented a problem she hadn't considered. When she ran out of blood fused with the T-virus, she'd lose her powers.

Alice had spent the last year and three weeks never coming down from her T-virus induced high. The brunette knew she was addicted. She could feel it every time her infection burned away – she could feel the nervous desire to break her skin with the tip of a needle. The tremors, the pain, the heat when she didn't do it fast enough.

The brunette couldn't return to Claire any way but clean. The fear and anger that would result when she couldn't get her fix would have consequences she didn't want to put the redhead through. She couldn't be dependent on the masochistic remedy, but just thinking about stopping filled her with dread.

With the morning, Alice stood and turned east to see smoke rising from where Washington, D.C. used to be. Now there was nothing, just a massive cavity in the earth that smoldered from the bomb Wesker detonated. She felt a tear on her cheek and wiped at it in surprise, but all the action really did was smear the liquid on her skin. The woman really wasn't sad; her clones had known they were facing near certain death, but that didn't change the fact that her heart was heavy at the loss.

Wesker never rose from the crash, and Alice was thankful. She wasn't sure she could stop him again if that had been the case.

She left the site of the wrecked Osprey, walking west until she came upon a small town in Virginia. From the empty settlement, Alice located a white Chevy Avalanche and was able to hotwire the truck. She went back to a black leather jacket and dark jeans. The civilian dress was only complete when she found black leather boots and a watch that told military time. The clothes were very similar to what she wore when she'd first met Claire and K-mart, but she felt radically different in them. They didn't hide the monster, yet she didn't think she was embracing it either. The color of volcanic glass and pitch was just – Alice.

The brunette armed herself with a semiautomatic pistol around each thigh, a knife on her belt, and a 12 gauge shotgun in a holster on her back.

Alice made it as far as she could on her first day in the truck, and then pulled over when it came time to reset her infection. She looked at the time on her watch. **22:07:57**

The burn started slowly because she hadn't used any powers since her body healed itself. Alice put the vehicle in park and rolled the windows down for the cool breeze it would offer. Then she cut the engine and sat back in her seat. She tried to focus on her breathing, chanting in her mind along with every intake and every release. It worked…at first.

Her blood continued to rise in temperature, from simmer to boil as her body trembled. Alice squeezed her eyes tight against the blaze of the raging blowtorch welding her skin to the pain, and swore she felt they'd never be separate again. Her whole life was built on pain; it was overwhelming, torturous, and inescapable. But Alice knew that wasn't true. There was one way to put out the flames.

_No, _she thought. _I can't give up._

With courage Alice looked at her watch. What she saw stripped her of her bravery and her resolve. **22:19:37 **She was only twelve minutes into the torment and it was already an eternity.

Her hand shook as she reached for a syringe in the pack next to her. She simply couldn't do it. Alice pulled the cap off with her teeth and looked at the blood-filled vial once before suddenly chucking it out the window. She grabbed the rest of the syringes and threw them to the pavement below. The glass shattered on the street, and Alice went back to sitting rigid against the seat as she shut her eyes.

By the time Alice was physically able to check her watch again it was past midnight. But the fire wasn't completely absent; her skin was flush with warmth, something akin to wearing a coat in summer. Still, she could handle it. Alice was driven to break this habit.

And break it she did.

Yet she still wasn't down to human. As the week went by, Alice was surprised to find her powers were not fully gone. She retained a significant, though much less, amount of superhuman strength, speed, regenerative and mental prowess. Her blood no longer sang in the presence of the infected, but she'd grown tired of that song anyway. She didn't want to be a hunter anymore. Alice may have been tamed, just like Wesker had said, but it wasn't pathetic.

She knew she could love Claire this way. Alice would return to the redhead and _not_ hurt her. It was an amazing feeling to not be Claire's virus – or her own.

Alice made it to Resurrection, Alaska in exactly seven days. She went to the cabin first, but it was empty; nothing but dust from lack of use. The brunette's eyebrows came together in confusion, but she didn't let it get her down. Claire and K-mart were probably just staying in town with everyone else. When she thought about it, it made sense. The redhead would want to stay close to the people she helped get here.

The town was really a town no longer. The place was full of life and movement. The brunette couldn't believe her eyes when she pulled up in the Avalanche. A sentry of sorts approached her with a gun, but kept it at his side. Alice happily recognized the man. She jumped down from the high truck.

"Mikey!" Alice called out and his eyes grew big at the sight of her, but she couldn't concern herself with him. "Where's Claire?"

The Aussie pointed across from himself in silence and not to the busy town behind him. Alice followed his reaching direction and saw only a steep hill in the distance. The brunette's heart plummeted. Hills only had three uses. Churches, old time school houses, and…

Alice abandoned the man and walked to it quickly. She didn't see a house of God. She picked up the pace, but didn't see a school either. Alice reached the base of the grassy hill, and she scrambled up it to the third use –

Graves.

Wooden crosses littered the peak, yet the final places of rest were clustered together. As if even in their sleep, the dead did not want to be alone.

Alice hit her knees with wet cheeks as the trails of her tears flowed together. Claire was on top of this hill. The brunette had to find where. She glanced at the crosses closest to her; her breath tight in her chest like a vise-grip was clamped to her lungs. The names engraved in the wooden constructs rang no bells, not one belonged to the redhead.

The brunette crawled among them, half stumbling on her hands and knees, half standing to walk and then collapsing back down. Each cross that she came to that wasn't Claire's was murder; a nine millimeter bullet in her heart every time she read someone else's name. All she wanted was to be with Claire – no matter where she was, no matter what she had to do to get to her.

But Claire's grave was not among the dozen clustered on the hill. Alice looked around, her sight lost, until she saw a single grave marker set apart from the rest.

She finally found the strength to stand because she knew she'd finally come back to Claire. Alice couldn't even recall the seconds it took her to get to the cross. She was just there.

The brunette didn't look at the letters right away; she was too focused on the flowers arranged in a simple bouquet resting on dark brown dirt. The petals were a softly-toned blue, and Alice wasn't sure where the knowledge had come from, but she knew they were forget-me-nots. Someone had been leaving one of the small flowers each day. Alice couldn't stop herself from picking up the newest one any more than she could stop her eyes from fluttering to the name engraved in the wood.

The tears came again, equal parts relief and agony.


	11. One Month Anniversary

Part 2: One Month Anniversary

The name on the cross read: **K-mart**

_My shadow, _the brunette thought as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

Alice's life was one circle of Hell after another. She hit her knees in horrible torment, and the forget-me-not fell from numb fingers. Her head bowed as she cried.

Then Alice heard the softest footfall behind her.

She looked over her shoulder, and their moment – sad as it was – had finally come. Alice felt almost every piece of her heart return at the sight of Claire holding a delicate forget-me-not tightly to her chest. One piece would forever remain with the silent teen.

Alice stood and knew what was coming before she even saw the redhead's knees buckle. She ran and caught Claire before the woman could fall. Still, they were left on the grassy hillside, the redhead in Alice's arms as she kneeled on the ground.

Alice didn't feel like the hero she thought she would.

Their eyes locked in complete silence. The brunette made the effort to memorize every ounce of this bittersweet moment. Claire's warm, weighted frame her in arms; the woman's crystal eyes a mix of jade and emerald staring into her own; her auburn red hair; her racing heartbeat – but not the rise and fall of her chest. Claire wasn't breathing.

"Breathe, love," Alice soothed desperately as her eyes continued to water. "_Breathe_."

With Claire's first breath, a sob broke loose from the redhead's throat. Alice matched the motion, sob for sob, as she pulled the woman close to her. "It's ok," she said through gut-wrenching bouts of lament. "I'm here. I'm _home._"

Alice finally felt the other woman's arms return the frantic embrace as their tears continued to fall and mix; their wet and flushed cheeks pressed tightly to one another.

The brunette wasn't sure how long they stayed like that. Minutes, hours, days – it really didn't matter. All she could think about was K-mart. Alice had come so far in her quest for redemption, but it didn't change a thing. If given the choice, she'd give it all up for K. But she was no longer a god; she couldn't make miracles out of thin air. All she was good for was holding Claire.

But even that was about to be taken from her.

They were suddenly not alone on the hill. Alice heard another quiet footstep and lifted her forehead from resting against Claire's to see AJ standing in front of them both. The redhead pulled out of her embrace, but she hardly noticed.

Alice got to her feet and yelled. "You! You _stayed?_ After you promised – I trusted you!"

"It wasn't like that," AJ countered.

"What was it like, hu?" she asked as her hands curled into fists. "What was it like living my life? Did you _fuck_ her?"

Claire was instantly in arms. "Alice!"

The brunette original didn't care. She felt like she'd lost everything.

_I'm my own worst enemy…_ Alice thought, and then ran at AJ. She lashed out with her right fist. The clone couldn't stop her because she was no better than human. Alice put every ounce of her superhuman strength behind the punch, but the copy stopped it anyway. Her fist was caught and followed closely in the same manner by her other attempt. The brunette original tried to pull out of the hold, but she was kept in place. She found AJ's blue eyes full of sorrow for her, and Alice hated it like nothing before.

She snarled in anger as her skull filled with pressure and her eyes dilated. If she couldn't kill herself with physical ability, she'd do it mentally. AJ fought that too, and the brunette original couldn't understand it. The clone was supposed to be only Class E; she wasn't. If Alice had to guess, she'd swear AJ was now in Class A.

It wasn't fair. Alice was easily overwhelmed and defeated, but she didn't quit. She kept up her mental assault, and her nose began to bleed.

Claire yelled behind them with authority. "Stop it – both of you!"

The yell broke AJ's concentration, and it allowed Alice to lay the pressure on. She watched blood spill directly from the clone's ears until she was stopped again.

The clash of titans was over not much longer after that. Alice was forced to her knees, her tight fists still in her copy's grip, as she continued to push herself further than she could handle. She blacked out to the sound of Claire's panicked voice.

"Alice!"

The brunette woke in the night to find herself in her and Claire's bed inside the cabin, the redhead holding her possessively as she slept. Her heart ached subconsciously as she took a moment to think about what being with the younger woman meant. If Claire was with her right now and not AJ…perhaps she had jumped to a conclusion much too quickly. She was still furious that the clone had broken her rules, but there was something more to their situation.

Alice suddenly recalled what the circumstance was. K-mart was dead.

The pain in her chest flared up from the dull throb of there but forgotten – to extreme and remembered. She couldn't believe K wasn't her first thought. Tears were instant as her body shook. The tremors woke Claire, and the redhead opened her green eyes in the dark. Alice suddenly found herself in an even tighter embrace as they both cried again.

The utter defeat in the way they expressed their sorrow was comforting in only that they were experiencing it together.

The night matured and their tears slowed. Alice kissed Claire's forehead and when she pulled back, suddenly found the younger woman's chapped lips on her own. The kiss was heartbreaking. They were both quivering as they grasped at each other frantically.

Their first time together after being reunited was not the slow, loving passion it should've been, but rather the burning and blind desire of pain. When they collapsed together a heap of panting, naked and sweating frames a little more sore and bruised than usual, the tears came again.

Alice played with Claire's hair, mindless, as the redhead lay on her collarbone. The hand that wasn't occupied with the younger woman's red locks was holding onto her hand; their fingers interlocked together.

The brunette had to know, but she started with an easier question. "What happened with AJ?"

Claire took an empty breath before she spoke. "She came to drop off the serum, but she was shot by one of the night watchmen. I thought she was you, and when she died…"

Alice squeezed Claire's hand to encourage her to continue.

"She healed from it and explained what the fuck was going on. She wanted to leave, but I made her stay until she was completely healed. I never slept with her, Alice. She wasn't you."

The brunette thought the words would make her feel better; they really didn't. Alice was left to assume that whatever had happened to the teen took place not long after that. And in Claire's tragic state, AJ couldn't leave her. She was suddenly thankful for the clone; very grateful that Claire hadn't been alone.

"How-" her voice faltered, but she tried again, barely getting the words out. "Wh-what happened to-" Alice couldn't do it. She couldn't say K-mart's name.

Claire answered with detachment. "You'd be surprised what a little piece of rusted metal can do. That was a month ago…today."

Alice required no further explanation. The accident that killed K was obvious; it was tetanus. A disease associated with rust-covered nails, which was often deadly without an inoculation to prevent it. The brunette was sick to her stomach at the thought of the teen's death.

Claire had been there to experience every agonizing hour as she watched K-mart fade away, helpless. Alice had been in the desert readying to fight Wesker. The hollowing pain was so new to the brunette.

She kept her thoughts to herself and Claire did the same. The redhead fell back into a deep sleep not long after that, and Alice maneuvered herself out of the embrace. She rose from the bed and got dressed to go outside. But before she left the bedroom, she stood in the doorframe facing Claire and whispered at her sleeping form.

"I'm here now. I'll take care of you…I love you, Claire."

Alice turned on her heel and left. The second she stepped out of the door, weaponless because she'd honestly forgotten to arm herself, Paco rose from his spot on the porch. Alice couldn't believe her eyes. The Saint Bernard was huge.

His tail wagged at the sight of her, and Alice kneeled to hug the dog. She wrapped her arms around his bulky neck and buried her fingers in his fur. Of all the things the brunette expected when she walked out the cabin door – Paco was not one of them, but she was pleased to see him just the same.

She spoke into the dog's ear, thankful for the distraction. "Hey boy. You've grown."

When she pulled away from him, Paco fell in step behind her as she walked the two miles back into town. There were almost no souls awake in the place as she cut for the hill that brought her so much pain.

Alice took each ascending step with steady courage. She had something she wanted to say. Only K-mart would care to know.

The brunette strode forth in the cool night and found herself in front of the teen. She sat quietly, her head didn't bow, but it wasn't raised either. Paco laid on the other side of the disrupted earth, his head on his paws. Alice picked up one of the forget-me-nots that Claire had been leaving and twirled it lightly in her fingers as she spoke.

"I did it, K." Alice had been certain she couldn't cry anymore, but tears found their way to her cheeks just the same. "I-I found my redemption. I think I've even…forgiven myself." The brunette couldn't see through her blurry eyes. There was nothing to look at anyway. "I know you didn't want me call you this…but I can't help it. I love you, kid."

Her head finally fell again as she wiped at her tears with the hand holding the small, blue flower.

Almost like what had happened before, Alice wasn't alone on the hill. Her clone placed a hand on her shoulder, and Alice found herself getting to her feet, her eyes closed until she was standing.

AJ had a bag on her back; it seemed she was here to say her goodbye.

"Knew I'd find you here," the clone said.

"You're leaving?"

The replica nodded. "I was only waiting for your return."

"How did you know I'd come back?"

AJ gave a slight smile as she answered, "It's what I would've done."

Alice sighed and ran a hand through her dark hair. But then AJ approached her, her hand out but wrapped around something. Alice held her palm out, and the clone gave her something she thought she'd never see again.

AJ dropped K's bear claw necklace into Alice's hand before speaking. "She wanted me to tell you something."

Alice was suddenly hanging on AJ's every word as she squeezed the claw in her hand, not hard enough to break skin but hard enough to_ feel_ it.

"She wanted you to know that – she forgives you. She said she knew you'd try and blame yourself for this, for not being here."

K-mart had been right. The girl always was. Alice had been so ready to take on the guilt for not being there even though she'd forgiven herself for her hand in the world's destruction. Alice began to cry again, her shoulders shaking lightly.

AJ continued, "She doesn't want you to. She loves you."

"Loved," Alice corrected, tears down her face.

AJ argued back firmly while shaking her head. "No. No, Alice. There was one more thing K-mart wanted me to say. When you miss her – just look up at the stars. She'll always be looking down at her hero from there."

It went against everything Alice believed, but look up she did.

The stars sparkled in a mixture of reds and blues in the dark confines of space. The tiny dots of light didn't fill her with the rage they used to.

"_Alice?"_

_The brunette turned her head to the teen beside her as they lay back in one of the snow banks encasing the lake ice. K met her gaze and shifted her feet to be in a little more of a comfortable position. _

"_You want redemption from what you think you've done…" the girl started._

_Alice bit the inside of her cheek as she turned her cobalt eyes to the stars above their heads, waiting for K-mart to finish._

"_But what will you do once you get it? You can't keep letting the guilt come back. It's not right, and you don't deserve it. You deserve to be happy."_

_The older woman smirked and nudged the teen playfully beside her. "I am happy K. You and Claire are the best things in life."_

_Alice looked back at K-mart and found the girl waiting for her gaze to be returned. K-mart smiled and Alice mirrored the smile, the easy contentment, and the knowledge that no matter what – she'd always have her shadow to try and talk some sense into her._

_The brunette stood from the snow and back onto her skates. She held her gloved hand out to the teen and spoke into the chilly air._

"_Come on. Let's get you back to Claire before we _both _get grounded."_

_K-mart laughed as she took the woman's hand. "Something tells me you'd enjoy your punishment a lot more than I'd enjoy mine."_

_Alice chuckled as she hid her face, and her light embarrassment, with her free hand._

She took a moment to put the teen's necklace around her head, and then her eyes found the stars again.

With her gaze fixed above her, Alice didn't feel like she had saved the world – but she found comfort in the fact that she would _always _be K-mart's hero.

**You may think me sadistic, but I swear it's actually masochism I'm infected with. You wouldn't believe the turmoil I've been in over **_**fictional **_**characters for the past few days. If you're crying – I promise you aren't alone.**

**This is the right ending, I can feel it. It's not really like me to throw my heart out here like this. But this is a horribly personal ending – one I didn't get. My K-mart didn't forgive me before they died.**

**So **_**please**_**, don't berate and yell at me for this. By all means be upset, just not with me. I bow out at your mercy and with the hope that you'll continue to read my work – as angst-ridden as it may be.**

***A world without heroes is like a world without stars.***

***You can't look up at to anyone without heroes.***


	12. If I Die Tomorrow

**I know what you're thinking: "Whoa-whoa-whoa-**_**whoa. WAIT! **_**What? ****I thought this story was over!"**

…**yeah, me too. Haha. However, this is not a continuation, but actually an alternate ending…that will carry on for at least a few chapters. It was the original ending I had planned and I can't get it out of my head enough to really write Missing You Already. So I best finish this story again, eh?**

**Again this one is split, and there are similarities, but…you're just gonna have to read to find out…**

**As always reviews are what keep me going.**

Chapter 12: If I Die Tomorrow

Alice's consciousness came back to her slowly. She smelled the fire before she felt it. The noxious fumes of burning rubber, plastic, and skin coated her nostrils black with smoke. She coughed and the pain vibrated her every injury to the point that she suddenly felt them all. Each cut, burn, and broken bone flared up in agonizing sensation.

But she was alive – and that was all that mattered.

After removing a piece of the broken Osprey from on top of her leg, she crawled out of the wreckage. Her hand blistered on a heated piece of metal so she retracted it instantly. She decided to try and stand instead of struggle across it on her hands and knees. The brunette was unsure on her feet, but her boots were much more suited to handle the heat. The bottom of her shoes melted on the metal, but she made it across and found herself emerged from the hellfire with her soul.

Alice had done it. Humanity had a legitimate fighting chance because of _her _actions. But she didn't feel like a hero – she wouldn't until Claire was back in her arms.

The brunette stumbled into the dead grass around the crash site to recover and to make sure Wesker didn't rise from his fiery grave like she had. The brunette pulled out a syringe from her pouch, lucky to see that she had three others still intact. Her hand shook as she pushed the needle inside her arm. With the infected blood racing in her veins, she could feel her body work to repair the damage of broken bones in her ribs, leg, and wrist; the burns of every degree; and the cuts from the metal that sliced into her like ribbons.

It was a slow process, but she had the comfort of air in her lungs, a steady heartbeat, a warm fire in front of her, and a starry night above. Not to mention thoughts of returning to Claire and K-mart.

She wondered how long it would take her to get to Alaska and estimated almost a four day journey, if she made no stops. Between finding a vehicle, new clothes, weapons, and taking time to sleep, it would likely take her a week. Just one more week until her real life began.

For being a pessimist, Alice was awfully lighthearted. She couldn't help it and she didn't want to; the brunette liked feeling good about herself. It was so different from the torment she was prone to.

Still, she could always be brought back down when her mind was left to wander, and wander it did. Alaska was infection free – or as close to infection free as any place could be – and that presented a problem she hadn't considered. When she ran out of blood fused with the T-virus, she'd lose her powers.

Alice had spent the last year and three weeks never coming down from her T-virus induced high. The brunette knew she was addicted. She could feel it every time her infection burned away – she could feel the nervous desire to break her skin with the tip of a needle. The tremors, the pain, the heat when she didn't do it fast enough.

The brunette couldn't return to Claire any way but clean. The fear and anger that would result when she couldn't get her fix would have consequences she didn't want to put the redhead through. She couldn't be dependent on the masochistic remedy, but just thinking about stopping filled her with dread.

With the morning, Alice stood and turned east to see smoke rising from where Washington, D.C. used to be. Now there was nothing, just a massive cavity in the earth that smoldered from the bomb Wesker detonated. She felt a tear on her cheek and wiped at it in surprise, but all the action really did was smear the liquid on her skin. The woman really wasn't sad; her clones had known they were facing near certain death, but that didn't change the fact that her heart was heavy at the loss.

Wesker never rose from the crash, and Alice was thankful. She wasn't sure she could stop him again if that had been the case.

She left the site of the wrecked Osprey, walking west until she came upon a small town in Virginia. From the empty settlement, Alice located a white Chevy Avalanche and was able to hotwire the truck. She went back to a black leather jacket and dark jeans. The civilian dress was only complete when she found black leather boots and a watch that told military time. The clothes were very similar to what she wore when she'd first met Claire and K-mart, but she felt radically different in them. They didn't hide the monster, yet she didn't think she was embracing it either. The color of volcanic glass and pitch was just – Alice.

The brunette armed herself with a semiautomatic pistol around each thigh, a knife on her belt, and a 12 gauge shotgun in a holster on her back.

Alice made it as far as she could on her first day in the truck, and then pulled over when it came time to reset her infection. She looked at the time on her watch. **22:07:57**

The burn started slowly because she hadn't used any powers since her body healed itself. Alice put the vehicle in park and rolled the windows down for the cool breeze it would offer. Then she cut the engine and sat back in her seat. She tried to focus on her breathing, chanting in her mind along with every intake and every release. It worked…at first.

Her blood continued to rise in temperature, from simmer to boil as her body trembled. Alice squeezed her eyes tight against the blaze of the raging blowtorch welding her skin to the pain, and swore she felt they'd never be separate again. Her whole life was built on pain; it was overwhelming, torturous, and inescapable. But Alice knew that wasn't true. There was one way to put out the flames.

_No, _she thought. _I can't give up._

With courage Alice looked at her watch. What she saw stripped her of her bravery and her resolve. **22:19:37 **She was only twelve minutes into the torment and it was already an eternity.

Her hand shook as she reached for a syringe in the pack next to her. She simply couldn't do it. Alice pulled the cap off with her teeth and didn't even look at the blood in the vial before jamming the needle in her arm. She pushed the plunger down with clenched teeth and could almost feel the infected blood well up beneath her skin.

Alice hissed in an icy breath to cool the flames that were already dying down. She coasted on the high until she reached the peak, and once there found herself falling off the other side into disappointment. She'd failed, but she was determined to try again.

The next night found Alice again attempting to work through the sauna. The tremors reminded her of earthquakes; the heat – of volcanoes. She honestly thought she was going to die. It was then that she gave up quitting the habit and in turn labeled it as something that couldn't be avoided.

Instead of making it to Resurrection, Alaska in a week, Alice took the time to gather a stock of infected blood. She found an abandoned hospital and raided the place for empty syringes. The brunette knew she'd never get enough to inject herself forever, but she figured she could make trips out into infected countryside whenever she needed to.

Alice was beginning to feel reckless. She was always a little irresponsible when it came to the value of her life. On finding an undead or even a horde, Alice got creative with their killing instead of just dispersing the creatures she needed to so she could be on her way. Even going so far as to construct quarter-filled slugs for her shotgun. There was next to nothing practical about it. The make-shift ammunition was hardly an efficient means of killing and more about making a bloody mess.

When she was actually on the hunt for infected blood sometimes she would leave one of the creatures alive and jump it from behind, empty syringe in her teeth and the undead's neck in the crook of her elbow. From there she'd take the syringe from her mouth with her free hand as the undead struggled wildly in her grip.

Alice was again playing with her life and the 'lives' of the undead around her. She was stalling and using her own old habits to do so. The brunette was afraid of what she'd find in Alaska, terrified of it really. Her mind was full of doubt. She'd been gone for over a year, anything could've happened in that time.

Still at the end of each day she found she was closer to the haven. She made it to Alaska three weeks after killing Wesker and was melancholic once she passed the downed Osprey that signaled how close she was to...home.

Alice went to the cabin first, but it was empty; nothing but dust from lack of use. The brunette's eyebrows came together in confusion, she was instantly worried even though she reasoned that Claire and K-mart were probably just staying in town with everyone else. When she thought about it, it made sense. The redhead would want to stay close to the people she helped get here.

It wasn't much of a comfort. She had no idea what she was going to say to Claire. Alice needed forgiveness for leaving like she did, but her shoulders were heavy with the certainty she wouldn't get it.

The town was really a town no longer. The place was full of life and movement. The brunette couldn't believe her eyes when she pulled up in the Avalanche. A sentry of sorts approached her with a gun but kept it at his side, and Alice recognized the blonde man. She stepped down from the high truck to speak to him.

"Mikey!" Alice called out and his eyes grew big at the sight of her, but she couldn't concern herself with him. "Where's Claire?"

The Aussie pointed across from himself in silence and not to the busy town behind him. Alice followed his reaching direction and saw only a steep hill in the distance. The brunette's heart plummeted. Hills only had three uses. Churches, old time school houses, and…

Alice abandoned the man and walked to it quickly. She didn't see a house of God. She picked up the pace, but didn't see a school either. Alice reached the base of the grassy hill, and she scrambled up it to the third use –

Graves.

Wooden crosses littered the peak, yet the final places of rest were clustered together. As if even in their sleep, the dead did not want to be alone.

Alice hit her knees with wet cheeks as the trails of her tears flowed together. Claire was on top of this hill. The brunette had to find where. She glanced at the crosses closest to her; her breath tight in her chest like a vise-grip was clamped to her lungs. The names engraved in the wooden constructs rang no bells, not one belonged to the redhead.

The brunette crawled among them, half stumbling on her hands and knees, half standing to walk and then collapsing back down. Each cross that she came to that wasn't Claire's was murder; a nine millimeter bullet in her heart every time she read someone else's name. All she wanted was to be with Claire – no matter where she was, no matter what she had to do to get to her.

But Claire's grave was not among the dozen clustered on the hill. Alice looked around, her sight lost, until she saw a single grave marker set apart from the rest.

She finally found the strength to stand because she knew she'd finally come back to Claire. Alice couldn't even recall the seconds it took her to get to the cross. She was just there.

The brunette didn't look at the letters right away; she was too focused on the flowers arranged in a simple bouquet resting on dark brown dirt. The petals were a softly-toned blue, and Alice wasn't sure where the knowledge had come from, but she knew they were forget-me-nots. Someone had been leaving one of the small flowers each day. Alice couldn't stop herself from picking up the newest one any more than she could stop her eyes from fluttering to the name engraved in the wood.

There were no tears.


	13. Daily Fix

Chapter 13: Daily Fix

The name on the cross read: **Alice**

_Damn it AJ! _Alice was angry, but it was fueled with sorrow. The brunette didn't know the explanation for this or even what it truly meant. She wasn't given enough time to understand the consequences because she heard the safest footfall behind her.

The brunette turned around, and their moment had finally come. Alice felt almost every piece of her heart return at the sight of Claire holding a delicate forget-me-not tightly to her chest.

Alice knew what was coming before she even saw the redhead's knees buckle. She ran and caught Claire before the woman could fall. Still, they were left on the grassy hillside, the redhead in Alice's arms as she kneeled on the ground.

She didn't feel like the hero she thought she would. Alice had come so far in her quest for redemption, but it didn't change a thing. She still felt guilty.

Their eyes locked in complete silence. The brunette made the effort to memorize every ounce of this moment. Claire's warm, weighted frame her in arms; the woman's crystal eyes a mix of jade and emerald staring into her own; her auburn red hair; her racing heartbeat – but not the rise and fall of her chest. Claire wasn't breathing.

"Breathe," Alice soothed desperately. "_Breathe_."

With Claire's first breath, she struggled out of Alice's arms. The brunette let her go; she'd never make the woman do anything against her will ever again. She couldn't figure it out; she had thought their reunion would make Claire happy. Instead Claire just seemed confused and miserable. Her eyes were empty, yet she could do nothing but stare at Alice as they both got back on their feet.

_Like she's seen a ghost…_Alice thought. Her head jerked slightly to the grave behind her. While Alice knew it was AJ, Claire did not. She looked back at the redhead and immediately rushed to explain.

"That's not me. Claire, it was a clone." The words had no visual effect so Alice took a step forward. "I'm not dead."

There was still no reaction from Claire. Alice was about to reach out to touch the woman a couple feet away from her, but suddenly they weren't alone on the hill. The footsteps were clumsy, rushed, and numerous.

Alice and Claire both turned their heads in the direction of the sound as K-mart and Paco clambered up the hill. Whatever piece of Alice's heart that had been missing – it was back now.

The teen seemed just as surprised to see her as Claire was and stopped right before colliding into Alice like she'd suddenly changed her mind. Alice had been so sure K was going to envelop her in the hug fit for an infected bear. The teen may have hesitated, but Paco did not.

The Saint Bernard was almost fully matured, and he barked at the sight of her. The deep rumble startled the group, but the dog's tail wagged furiously as he nuzzled his nose right into her palm. Alice chuckled once and kneeled to scratch behind his soft ear with purpose.

Of all the things she expected – Paco giving her more affection than Claire and K-mart combined was not among them.

The teen finally spoke up, her voice unsure but full of naive hope none the less. "Alice? Is that really you?"

Alice met K's hazel eyes and nodded before standing again. There was not even a hint of reluctance this time. K-mart engulfed Alice in a steady embrace as a tear found its way on the girl's cheek. The brunette returned the hug, but couldn't help looking at Claire while she did so. The woman was still rigid in her stance and watching with mistrust.

The teen spoke into Alice's shoulder, faith pouring from her lips like a fountain. "I knew it wasn't you! There was just _no way!_"

Alice rubbed her hands along the girl's back. The hug became tighter for a moment before the teen pulled away to talk in typical K-mart fashion, shooting question after question without giving Alice any time to answer.

"Did you say that was a clone? How did you get clones? What have you been doing all this time? Where-"

A light smile had broken out onto Alice's face, but then suddenly Claire left. The redhead's leaving cut K-mart off and it dropped the older woman's grin.

At Claire's absence Alice was overwhelmed. The woman she loved was alive; K-mart and Paco were both alive. She was unbelievably lucky and even though Claire was upset the brunette didn't care. Her life had potential for picking up where it left off before they'd deserted Alaska.

Of course things wouldn't be the same. They were no longer alone in the haven; the town was thriving and would continue to do so if AJ had in fact succeeded at delivering the serum. Alice was sure they could move back to the old cabin now. The brunette would do her best to provide for her small family. Claire would smile at her, _because_ of her. K-mart would have renewed vigor in her antics. Everyone thing would be as it should…except it wasn't.

Upon answering some of K-mart's questions, the girl in turn told Alice of AJ's appearance. The clone had in fact kept her word, providing the people with the serum at all costs, but an accident caused her to die in Claire's arms. Alice couldn't imagine how that must've felt. If their places had been reversed and Claire was dying in her arms…she couldn't fathom the end result. Alice had no desire to, she just wanted to find and comfort the redhead.

Claire refused to see her. Alice was met instead with another angry Redfield, and she was certain that had K not been at her side the tense confrontation would've escalated into blows on someone's end. Chris was adamant that his sister wanted nothing to do with Alice. That the she-demon should just go back to the Hell she crawled out of. But if those were Claire's words or not was in question, especially by the teen.

K-mart promised to talk to Claire for the brunette and suggested that Alice stay at the cabin until things were a little less heated. Alice agreed with despondence and found herself back home…alone.

Days passed until they turned into weeks, Alice spent the time appropriating into town life whether it was to pull a watch shift or hunt or help build though she was never actually scheduled to do any of those things. Whenever she saw Claire the redhead ignored her completely. Alice felt like she was walking on eggshells except her feet were bare, the shells were actually glass, and the glass was already broken. Each step got her no closer to or further from her goal – they just hurt.

Chris on the other hand almost seemed to make up reasons to pass her by with suspicious and hateful glances. Alice could feel his resentment from a mile away.

None of the townspeople really knew about her, but the brunette found many of them coming to thank her for telling them about the town. They were all grateful for the hope and their words made her mute. No one ever commented on 'her' unique talent depending on the clone they met. The origin of the serum was unknown, and they seemed to accept that without question. Alice was glad she didn't have savior status. If anyone did it was Claire. She was the real hero in this town of over 2000 people. Alice was just another survivor who happened to know of the haven, albeit a very physically able survivor, but alone without the people she loved none the less. Just like everybody else.

Her situation was like a divorce. Yes, she had gotten the house, but Claire had K-mart. The brunette found the teen trying to evenly split her time among the two and was incredibly thankful for K's company whenever the girl was around; Paco never very far behind. Still, K-mart returned to her place with Claire before the evening was over.

Nights found the brunette pacing and checking her watch, barely getting more than three hours of sleep. Food had always been lackluster since the world ended, but now that kind of energy was avoided and replaced with a vial of infected blood.

The shots were administered daily even though Alice's infection didn't always need to be reset. She just didn't want to wait, to feel the fire and suffer for it. The brunette didn't have a lot of stock left, and she was actually looking forward to taking a break from her new, empty life. At least the infected would not ignore her. They would do quite the opposite – they'd seek her out desperate to be near her even if was only to take advantage of her flesh.

No one knew about Alice's addiction or it was suffice to say that K-mart didn't know, and therefore Claire didn't either. K talked a lot and Alice was always content to listen. She seldom asked about Claire though she was desperate to.

Alice was certain that if not for the teen's visits, her daily fix would've been a nightcap.

The brunette was sitting at the kitchen table, lining up quarters. They fit neatly, one next to the other until she had the correct amount of change. She carefully rolled them up in an old piece of paper and folded the ends down.

There was no knock on the cabin door, but Alice knew she was about to be joined by K-mart. The girl called out to the brunette as she stepped into the cabin.

"Alice?"

"In here," she responded.

The teen emerged into the room with Paco on her heels. The dog walked to Alice for his customary greeting. The brunette turned her attention away from her project and gave it to the Saint Bernard instead.

K-mart smiled and sat across from Alice. The girls hands instantly found their way to the coins as she compulsively put them into separate piles.

Their conversation started small and with ease like it always did. But Alice had something to say to the girl, something that would not be well received.

"K," she started, "I'm going to be leaving for a few days."

K-mart stopped trying to flick the quarter that she held steady on the tabletop with her index finger into a controlled spin. She met Alice's eyes as she question the woman.

"Why? When are you leaving?"

Alice answered the questions out of order. "Tomorrow, and I just have to find something." She knew K wasn't fooled by her ambiguity.

"What is it you could you possibly need that we don't have here?" K-mart looked off, and Alice saw the light spark behind her hazel eyes. The teen held Alice's gaze again and seemed to recite someone else's words. "Something infected…" K-mart began to shake her head. "You don't need that, Alice."

Alice went back to taking freeing gunpowder from the small golden bullets next to her pile of coins. "I do."

It wasn't really like K-mart to give up, but that was exactly what happened. The line of conversation was dropped with the teen's absent response. Like the spark, Alice could see the wheels turning in K-mart's head, but there was more to it. The brunette hadn't seen this look on K's face – ever.

_She's…_Alice began the thought but had difficulty finding the words to describe the expression she saw. It was like looking into a mirror. _She's feeling…guilty._

At the discovery, Alice's heart sank. She went back to preparing more of the quarter-filled slugs, trying to convince herself that she shouldn't ask and that she wouldn't say the right thing. Truly, Alice was just afraid of what she'd hear.

K-mart and Paco left a little earlier than usual, but it was late by the time the brunette turned off her battery-powered lamp after putting away her coin collection. She walked back to the bedroom; the silent walls seemed to shrink upon her with judgment.

Alice stood in the door frame and rotated her wrist to catch the dim light coming in through the bedroom windows so she could read the numbers displayed by her watch.

**23:59:59 **


	14. Spend the Night

**"An update? About time!" Haha, I know, sorry readers. :( And sorrier still. This is the only update for at least a week… likely more. I'm going out of town for spring break. So, while I'll likely be writing, I won't have my computer to update. I'll give you a hint as to where I'm going (and yes, I'm staying in the US)… if ANY of you can guess it (1.) I'll be thoroughly impressed and (2.) I'll wonder if I'm being stalked. I might even update next time in your honor. I tend to take guessing games very seriously. Those of you who know, I'd better not see your guesses! Cheaters. :)**

**Hint: It's gotta be a big hit and that's dangerous.**

**"Who cares? I just want my update!" Geez, relax… and as always enjoy. :)**

Chapter 14: Spend the Night

Alice let her wrist fall to her side. The numbers made no difference. It would be midnight with or without her. Probably better without her. Without Claire, she felt the brickwork of defeat settle into her chest. All of K-mart's good intentions to sway the redhead weren't making a difference.

"_Did you talk to her? What did she say?"_

_K-mart shook her head, a steady look of sadness on her face. "I'm sorry, Alice. She doesn't want to see you."_

_The brunette sighed and looked away from the teen. She was so hoping that K-mart would be able to convince Claire to give her a chance. She'd already had chances, too many of them. _

_Alice understood why Claire was angry. She left the redhead for a year beneath the desert sand, and the only goodbye she'd given was laced with want to take and want to prove that the brunette was a monster. It was hardly a farewell to Claire at all, more like evidence that her decision to leave was warranted. But it was a farewell for Alice. She said goodbye to all the change Claire brought about within her._

_Now she had returned, and Alice fought hard to get that change back...to keep a part of her. _

"_It's fine," Alice responded, despondent._

"_You've only been here a few days," K reasoned. "I'm sure she just needs more time."_

_She prayed the girl was right. If Claire wanted nothing to do with her… ever… the only person to blame for it was herself._

_Alice felt the teen's hand on her shoulder._

"_Don't worry," K-mart smiled lightly before she finished, "I'll try again tomorrow."_

_She couldn't bring herself to return the reassurance. _How many 'tomorrows' will it take? _Alice wondered with a pessimistic heart._

The brunette looked at the bed she used to share with Claire and with a heavy sigh walked out of the doorframe to retire for the night. Before she could make it three feet Alice heard the front door open. Her hand found the semiautomatic on her hip as she continued to listen. The boot steps fell lightly, and had Alice not been keeping up with her injections it was possible she wouldn't known someone was trying to sneak in. As it was, it was the brunette with the upper hand.

Alice knew it wasn't K-mart, even if the girl was trying to be quiet she never would've been so successful. Her mind was about to go to the next paranoid inclination to avoid the one that was hopeful, but the intruder was coming down the hallway. Alice put herself flush against the wall next to the bedroom door. She didn't know why she wasn't just confronting them. Alice could handle any threat, human or not, except one.

The trespasser was about to pass through the doorway, and Alice's breathing hitched. One more step…and Alice's hand fell from her gun.

"Claire?" she whispered.

The redhead jerked to face Alice, just as surprised herself. Claire gave no response, and in the dark their eyes met.

The air was drenched with tension, and the brunette felt every intake of breath like she was underwater. Claire seemed just as uncertain if not more, but she still made the first move.

Alice was suddenly caught between the wall and Claire. The redhead's lips found hers in crushing sensation, but before Alice could do anything about it Claire pulled away. The younger woman had nothing but fire in her green eyes.

The brunette was certain she was about to be berated. She deserved it. But Claire didn't open her mouth to speak. Instead Alice was being kissed again. Before Claire could back off a second time, Alice wrapped her arms around the woman and held her there.

The redhead had no intent to leave, she deepened the kiss and their tongues met in increasing desire. The way they handled each other was getting heated and rough. One of Claire's hands snaked beneath Alice's shirt and caressed her breast with force. The redhead had to pull it back when Alice moved to lift Claire's top off.

Alice kissed her way down the newly exposed skin as Claire slipped a thigh between Alice's legs. The brunette moaned against the collarbone she'd just nipped at when Claire put pressure on her with a thigh.

She took hold of Claire's face, her hands settling on the redhead's chin to kiss her soundly as she began to grind on the woman's leg. She was losing herself in the pleasure, but this wasn't how she wanted it to go. Alice needed Claire naked. She needed to take Claire as much as Claire needed to take her.

It wasn't long before they were both stripped of every piece of fabric and in bed.

Their first time together after being reunited was not the slow, loving passion it should've been, but rather the burning need of fear. If they were ever separated again – they would die. Alice felt it in every one of Claire's touches. The intensity of her need was maddening, and Alice matched it stroke for stroke. Every thrust was meant to kill the other, to convey absolute ownership. Every kiss was meant to bring the other to life, to convey that they surrendered themselves willingly.

They collapsed in a heap of panting and sweating frames a little more sore and bruised than usual. But they fell together, Claire on top of Alice as they both tried to let their hearts settle.

Alice was completely drained – physically, emotionally, but she found the strength to hold Claire to her. The brunette would've been content to fall asleep on the spot, but the younger woman had other plans.

Claire pulled herself out Alice's arms and sat up on the bed to leave.

"Where are you going?" Alice questioned nervously, sitting up herself.

The redhead spoke as she stood and put her clothes back on, but she didn't answer.

"What you did to me was _wrong._" Claire pulled on her jeans and bent to grab her shirt as she continued,"What you did to K – abandoning her..." The redhead was now being mirrored by Alice as the brunette dressed with a little more haste.

Another few seconds later, they stood in front of each other. Both were clothed, but Claire's arms were crossed over her chest – they didn't stay that way long.

"The night we thought you died…" Claire glanced off in memory before looking back at Alice, "you know what she told me?" The redhead's nostrils flared. "She said she hated herself for refusing to tell me that you loved me. _Hated_ herself, Alice!"

Now Alice knew why K had looked so guilty. The teen had kept her word and didn't give Claire the message Alice asked her too. So when it was thought that Alice was dead… K-mart took the blame and turned it inward until it lapsed into self-hate. The girl was truly Alice's shadow, and Alice felt just as miserable for it.

Still, Claire kept telling her off and the brunette took it all in silence.

"There's no instant forgiveness this time," Claire spat. "You can't just come and go whenever you please." Where fire had been before, now there was loss. Claire's impassioned stare fell as her words crossed over into sorrow with a whisper. "You can't just let me believe… you're… _dead_."

Alice could keep quiet no longer – not now that she knew why Claire was truly upset. "I'm not dead…" She pleaded with the redhead, "I came back."

The phoenix returned in a smoldering instant. "How dare you come back at all!"

Alice felt each lick of the flames like she was trapped beneath the Osprey wreckage in D.C. Claire turned to go, but Alice reached out to stop her.

"Don't leave like this."

The younger woman shrugged out of Alice's light grip. "Why? You left like this-"

"And I regret it every day," the brunette interrupted. If she was going to get back what she'd recklessly left behind she would have to work for it. "I'm so sorry, Claire. I thought…" Alice swallowed before continuing, "I thought being apart would be better for you."

"Don't presume to know what's good for me ever again," Claire snapped, but her temper was lessening.

Alice shook her head as she responded, "I won't. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you close to me." The brunette reached out again this time to touch Claire's cheek, and the redhead let her do it. Alice felt Claire lean in to her palm as her eyes slipped closed. The brunette finally said the words she'd been dying to say for over a year. "I love you."

She watched a look of surrender come across Claire's features before the redhead drew near to her. Their noses brushed lightly as they kissed again. Alice felt her heart melt at the softness of it. With their foreheads rested together, she whispered to Claire.

"Please stay."

Claire pulled back and then nodded. Alice smiled as the redhead returned it. She took Claire's hand and with intertwined fingers led her to their old bed.

Even without her watch, Alice knew it was late. Still she wasn't sure she could sleep. The trip was nagging on her mind. She didn't want to leave, not now that Claire was _here _lying with her and trying to sleep herself.

The redhead's breathing was uneven, so Alice set out to soothe Claire by threading her fingers in auburn hair and running them down its length only to bring her hand back up and repeat the process. Claire calmed, and Alice found herself settling as well. Her thoughts were a little less panicked and more organized.

Alice knew there were two ways to go about leaving. She could lie – she wanted to lie. Claire simply wouldn't understand her need. Alice didn't understand it. The brunette shouldn't have wanted to keep it from Claire.

Alice began to think of the lies she could give. There were many really – an Umbrella facility was nearby that was too great a risk to leave unchecked, a newly received transmission for help had been received but Alice would be too late to make a difference, she could even pretend that she'd agreed to meet her other clones at an appointed time and place to discuss progress on administering the serum. Not all were wholly realistic or could guarantee that Alice could set out on her own, but what mattered was that none of them were the truth.

Suddenly Claire shifted and wrapped herself around the brunette a little tighter. The air left Alice in a deep sigh.

_Why am I doing this? _she questioned. _Why am I trying to keep her out?_

It was then that Alice realized she was actually trying to find something to be guilty for.

"_Alice?"_

_The brunette turned her head to the teen beside her as they lay back in one of the snow banks encasing the lake ice. K met her gaze and shifted her feet to be in a little more comfortable of a position. _

"_You want redemption from what you think you've done…" the girl started._

_Alice bit the inside of her cheek as she turned her cobalt eyes to the stars above their heads, waiting for K-mart to finish._

"_But what will you do once you get it? You can't keep letting the guilt come back. It's not right, and you don't deserve it. You deserve to be happy."_

_The older woman smirked and nudged the teen playfully beside her. "I am happy K. You and Claire are the best things in life."_

_Alice looked back at K-mart and found the girl waiting for her gaze to be returned. K-mart smiled and Alice mirrored the smile, the easy contentment, and the knowledge that no matter what – she'd always have her shadow to try and talk some sense into her._

_The brunette stood from the snow and back onto her skates. She held her gloved hand out to the teen and spoke into the chilly air._

"_Come on. Let's get you back to Claire before we _both _get grounded."_

_K-mart laughed as she took the woman's hand. "Something tells me you'd enjoy your punishment a lot more than I'd enjoy mine."_

_Alice chuckled as she hid her face and her light embarrassment with her free hand._

She continued to run her fingers through the younger woman's hair though Claire had fallen asleep a while ago.

Alice knew now that it was the truth… or nothing.

Her hand slowed as she finally drifted off.

She woke with the dawn to find herself lying on her side; Claire's back fitted to her front. Alice extricated herself as gently as she could so she didn't rouse the woman. She dressed for the day, and then approached her dresser to retrieve a syringe from the second drawer. The brunette reset her infection in silence, almost feeling disgusted with herself because Claire was lying right behind her, and she was about to experience a high that the redhead had nothing to do with.

Before Alice could put the needle away, there was a light knock on the front door. She glanced at Claire, but the woman was still asleep. Alice set the empty syringe on top of the dresser and walked to answer the door. The prick on her inner arm healed at her first step.

Alice opened the door to see K-mart and Paco waiting patiently.

"Hey," Alice greeted with a smile.

K returned the affection with her own hello and small grin, but once inside their happy demeanor gave way to strain.

"Claire's here, right?" K-mart asked as she sat at the kitchen table.

Alice gave a simple answer as she sat across from the teen. "Yeah."

"I'm glad," K said softly, but the older woman didn't respond. "I didn't tell her that you're leaving today… I…"

Alice watched K-mart struggle over her words.

"I di-didn't tell her you loved her…" The teen's gaze was on the floor at her confession.

The brunette was at a loss. She wasn't sure what to say, but she knew she had to say something.

"It's ok. You don't have anything to feel guilty for." Claire's words from the night before came to play in her mind. "I'm sorry for leaving like I did. It wasn't fair to either of you."

Alice watched K stand from her chair and approach her. The girl leaned down and hugged Alice. The position was awkward, but the brunette couldn't help but return it with that same eagerness K was showing.

"I forgive you, Alice."

The older woman smiled as the teen released her and found the same look of ease of her shadow's face.

"We're gonna be just fine," Alice stated for K-mart, and for herself.

The girl nodded as she responded with sarcasm, "About time you figured that out."

Alice rolled her eyes.

"Better not let Claire catch you doing that," K teased.

The pair laughed lightly at the redhead's expense. Alice needed to get back to the sleeping woman. She didn't want Claire to wake up without her so she told K-mart to stay around if she wanted but that she was going back to bed. The teen dismissed the suggestion with the excuse that Claire would not be too pleased to learn that she'd taken the Beast to drive to the cabin. Alice chuckled at the thought of the confrontation that would bring about. The girl bid her farewell and left.

Alice walked to the bedroom and opened the door to find Claire already awake, standing at the dresser. The brunette panicked as she watched Claire turn with her used syringe in her hand.

"What is this?" Claire asked.

Alice's response was immediate and unthinking. "Nothing!"

"After everything you said to me last night – you still think it's ok to lie to me." Claire shook her head as the hand with the needle rested at her side. "You are un-_fucking-_believable."

Alice's mouth opened, but she hesitated before speaking out of fear. "…I need it." She wasn't lying to Claire, not anymore.

"No, you don't. Not here." Claire placed the syringe back on the dresser and walked over to the brunette to put a hand on her shoulder. Her eyebrows knitted together at the touch. "You're trembling."

Alice met the redhead's gaze and did nothing to stop her body from quivering. She needed the other woman to know how afraid she truly was. The brunette was terrified of the fire she knew she would feel without her fix of infected blood.

"I won't survive this, Claire."

"Yes, you will. I'll help you. I'll be right here."

"I tried before," Alice argued. "I really did. I couldn't do it… but I can just take a few days and get more." The brunette could hardly believe the anxiety in her voice. It confirmed what she'd tried to ignore. The blood was a crutch, and she was an addict.

"And what? You'll just keep leaving?" Claire asked rhetorically, without animosity just honest concern. "It's not healthy to be dependent like that. Look at you, Alice. You're afraid just thinking about stopping." Claire looked down as she finished, "I couldn't take the drinking, and I won't be able to take this."

The younger woman was right, about everything… but there was one addiction Alice would never give up. Claire's green eyes were the only thing that kept the virus at bay. Meeting her stare gave Alice the strength to try again.

"I have to throw out the rest of my stock," she said with quick courage.

Claire smiled at her for support. "Don't worry. I'll do it."

The brunette was relieved that Claire would be responsible for disposing her unused syringes. Had Alice been the one to get rid of them, she may not have had the fortitude to actually to do it.

It was three days later before the fire started like a match thrown into a forest suffering from extensive drought. Claire and K-mart moved back into the cabin with Alice, and the brunette's days up until the match was struck were filled with an even mix of happiness and apprehension.

Alice was eating lunch at the kitchen table with Claire, K-mart, and Paco who was begging for scraps at her feet when her skin pulsated with a wave of heat only to be followed by a hotter one. The brunette put her hand on her forehead to try and quell the change in temperature with a self-soothing touch. It never worked before; it didn't work now.

Though she couldn't see Claire speak behind her newly closed eyes, she heard the redhead give a hasty instruction.

"K, why don't you go into town for a while – just take the Hummer, alright?"

It was a pretty direct order, and although Alice was certain K-mart wouldn't want to follow it she would anyway. The brunette opened her eyes to watch the girl leave. Really she wasn't a girl anymore, especially if Claire was giving her full permission to drive. K looked at Alice and gave her a hopeful smile before exiting the cabin with the Saint Bernard on her heels.

Alice dropped her head back into her hand as Claire walked up to her.

"Come on," the woman requested. "Let's get you somewhere more comfortable."

The brunette tried to stand and found Claire helping her do it. The redhead took one of her arms around her shoulders and guided Alice to their bedroom. Once there, Alice sat on the bed as the pain continued to grow from tiny match to full on forest fire.

"Lay back," Claire directed.

Alice didn't want to seem so weak in front of the redhead, but at the same time she knew her vulnerability would be well received. Claire would take care of her. The brunette settled on her back in the bed and felt the mattress shift with Claire's weight.

Her body trembled as her skin began to sweat. Alice was sure Claire was right next to her; touching her, but she couldn't feel it. There was only one feeling she was experiencing right now. Had Dr. Isaacs been into heat and not blood surely the allover pain driving her temperature through the roof would have been the kind he inflicted on her.

Her sense of time was nearly as torturous as what was certain to be some kind of pyromaniac tendency. Alice knew she was insane to try quitting again; to start the very fire that would burn her at the stake. She was unsure how much time had passed since lunch, but if she'd had any syringes left she would've regressed immediately. As it was, all she could do was choke on the nonexistent smoke.

"I… I can't…" Alice began to beg, needing to hear Claire's reassurance but fearful it wouldn't be enough.

"Yes, you can."

The redhead's voice in her ear began to bring Alice out of her pain-induced haze. Suddenly she could feel her hand in Claire's as the woman dabbed the brunette's forehead with a wet rag. Alice didn't even know how or when Claire had gotten it.

She opened her eyes to see Claire, and the redhead smiled down on her with loving faith. Alice couldn't return it. She hardly felt like she could keep her heart beating. The organ pulsated involuntarily… but she could tell it was slowing under the stress.

Though her blood was flooded with heat, when Alice lifted her hand to touch Claire's face she saw how pale her skin was. The redhead's cheek was like ice on her palm, but it was melting – their temperatures assimilating to match. Breathing was not automatic, but the brunette was still losing control of it. She couldn't keep her eyes open anymore.

"Alice…" Claire called.

* * *

The brunette's hand fell from her cheek so she dropped the cloth to frame Alice's face with both of her hands.

"Alice! Don't you do this to me again!"

The woman wasn't breathing. If Alice needed CPR Claire wouldn't be able to give it to her on the bed. She picked up the slack body and quickly set Alice down on the floor before straddling her hips.

Claire berated herself for telling K-mart to leave like she did and for more than that still. If she never would've pushed Alice, the brunette would be fine and well right now – not struggling to hold on to life… if she wasn't dead already. Alice's chest was still unmoving.

"_Breathe_ goddamnit!"

The redhead shut the woman's nose with her index finger and thumb before she brought her lips to Alice's and breathed air into her lungs.

Nothing changed, so she did it again.

Claire pulled away again to see if she'd had an effect a second time, but the oxygen she gave made no difference. She put two fingers to the pulse point below Alice's jaw bone. There was no throb of blood beneath her skin.

The redhead pleaded with tears in her eyes and a sob in her throat before starting the compressions. "Come on, baby."

Her hands were clamped together on Alice's sternum as she counted the compressions in her head. She completed an entire cycle of fifteen before she had to breathe into the brunette's lungs again. With every second that passed Claire knew she was losing her chance to bring Alice back to life.

Alice's lips were chilled against hers; very unlike the heat that had been present only a couple of minutes ago. Claire gave all she could, the touch almost like a kiss she only had desire to give Alice. In it was every tenderness, every bit of devotion, every ounce of air she possessed until she was breathless herself. She'd let Alice die before without knowing her love; it wouldn't happen this time. Claire backed off with an unnoticed tear on her cheek to see Alice… sputter and then finally breathe.

Claire was a mess of emotions all at once. She wanted to slap Alice, leave her and not come back, but mostly she just wanted to hold her and never let go. She didn't care if the woman couldn't breathe anymore because Claire had relaxed her weight on top of her. She rested her head on Alice's collarbone as she felt the woman's chest rise and fall, listening to the air enter and leave her lungs. Without opening her eyes, the redhead trailed a hand up to Alice's neck and found the pulse point beating.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around her back, and Claire was suddenly crying.

**Still not the end...**


	15. Everyday

**I'm back! I hope you're ready, 'cause all I did on my flights was write... for 3 different stories. Spring break was good, but I'm a little disappointed that the desert sand didn't take it (where I went) back yet. I'm ever hopeful because I don't know if you know, but Resident Evil 5 comes out in September 2012! WIN. Anyway, enjoy the final chapter to Atl. Redemption. **

**Reviews save lives. ;)**

Chapter 15: Everyday

Alice's recovery went well into the night. The heat, while not extreme was still uncomfortable when she finally realized that the light in the room was dawn. Claire never left her side or even slept after they got back in bed though Alice asked her to.

The brunette felt weak, drained. She hadn't eaten since the day before, but the thought of food made her stomach turn. It was past noon, and Alice knew Claire needed to get into town for her responsibilities. But the redhead made it clear that the only responsibility she cared about at the moment was Alice.

"I'm fine – really," Alice stated as the younger woman crossed her arms over her chest. "Besides, I want to check on K. She's been gone since yesterday."

Claire sighed. Even though Alice was sure the teen was alright, she knew Claire's protective streak would kick in at her words and give her the result she wanted.

"Fine," the redhead conceded, "but I'm driving."

Alice smirked as the pair walked out of the cabin to the brunette's Chevy Avalanche parked in the gravel drive. She checked the position of the revolver on her hip as she climbed into the high truck. Her breath went heavy at the same exertion that didn't even give Claire pause as she stepped up on the opposite side. It was an annoyance to be so exhausted. Alice grabbed her door handle to shut it, but then she heard an engine. The noise was thick with the hum of a large vehicle.

Claire's Beast drove up, so the brunette got out, happy that K-mart was back but concerned that she'd have to come up with another excuse to get Claire into town. Alice walked to the back of her white truck and leaned against it as the other vehicle rolled to a stop. Claire was quick to join her side.

The teen stepped down from the Hummer, and because Alice's eyes were on K, she didn't see the other passenger. At the sound of a second door opening her sight skipped to find Chris emerge. He was dressed like every other survivor, mismatched clothes of varying ware with both a handgun and knife on his belt.

K-mart spoke before Alice really had a chance to think of Claire's brother.

"I left Paco in town so the kids could play with him."

The brunette hardly heard the words meant to reassure her to location of the Saint Bernard. Chris's face was a mask devoid of all emotion, even the hate she'd come to expect as the new arrivals walked towards her and Claire. She wondered if it was because Claire was on good terms with her again. Maybe Chris had lost his animosity and could be happy if his sister was too.

Alice was off by a long shot.

"Hey Chris," the redhead greeted with comfortable cheer.

The man only stared.

_Something's not right, _Alice thought. She'd assumed the tall man's eyes were absent of humane emotion because the feeling was hidden behind them. It was more like that emotion was gone all together. Alice had seen such a look before… it had reflected in a pool of holy water inside a church.

_Alice gripped the edge of the windowsill as Beth's screams pierced the night. The small group of survivors ran out of the building at her previous command, and they were brought to their massacre quickly. The blonde didn't watch their deaths. She didn't have too; she'd seen it a million times before. The helpless victims of poor planning, stupid souls that should've listened to their gut before theirs were ripped out of them by hungering mouths, they never learned._

_The trio shouldn't have been so hasty to follow Beth's unwavering – and sorely misplaced – faith in Alice. The blonde was only interested in the martyr's death because she hadn't thought the woman would actually jump. It was an interesting feeling to be proven wrong… and enjoy it._

_Alice descended from the tower but didn't use the wooden ladder. She leapt from the opening and landed on her feet like it was nothing._ _A few of the church's candles below were still lit, and to a believer the structure would've been cast in an angelic glow, but to Alice it was all shadows._

_She walked to the entrance of the church, ready to take on the undead that were finishing their meal of a saint and her fools, when the tiniest noise of water hitting water caught her attention. The marble pedestal she'd just passed was full of gently rippling water. The blonde looked up in reflex, but she couldn't see where the drip had come from. There had been a storm some hours earlier, and Alice didn't really care for hunting undead in the rain. So she entered the church intent to drink through the bad weather. _

_It was an odd coincidence that the leak filled the very bowl meant to hold holy water in a world where nothing was holy, and the only thing that was worshiped was ammunition. Not to mention, there wasn't a single other leak or resulting puddle in the place._

_Alice found herself staring into the mirrored surface though the infected creatures outside the open door had just caught sight of her. Her gaze lingered on the look in her blue eyes as her blood continued to sing. For a moment, she thought she could see the disease eating her insides where once there was naïve hope and concern. Now… there was nothing but anger and homicidal inclinations masked by an emotionless expression._

_She turned away from her reflection and drew her semiautomatics as a malicious snarl spread across her face. No liquid – no matter how holy or cleansing – would ever save her. She didn't want it to._

Alice slowly lifted herself off the tailgate of the Avalanche as Chris began to speak to his sister.

"Claire. I want you to come back into town and live me."

The redhead's eyebrows furrowed as she tilted her head. "What?"

"She's no good for you," he explained evenly.

"No, Chris. I'm not leaving Alice."

The right side of the man's face twitched, and his temper began to show as Alice and K-mart observed the sibling interaction in silence.

"She's the one responsible for Jill's death," he spat. "It's me," his teeth clenched as he continued, "or her."

Claire's response was automatic. "Her."

Alice knew the redhead's decision would have consequences; she didn't realize the severity.

Chris drew his handgun, and though the brunette tried to match the action in speed she couldn't un-holster her revolver fast enough. Her agility was compromised – everything was. She couldn't even free the barrel of her gun before Chris had his trained on her.

Panic split the air, and Alice felt her lungs tighten with anxiety.

No one moved as Chris spoke with a snarl. "She's a _demon_, Claire. Had I listened to Jill… she would still be alive."

Alice let her gun settle back into her leather holster and her hand fall from the weapon when it was done, knowing that drawing it would mean her death.

Claire spoke as she took a cautious step forward. "That's not true."

"It is! She's blinded you to her lies. Now she's taken _everything _from me…" the man's chin rose in righteousness before finishing, "and it's time I returned the favor."

Alice experienced everything in slow motion. She practically felt Claire step in front of her to protect her… She watched Chris's trigger finger as his entire body tensed to act…

The brunette reached forward to shove Claire out of the path of the bullet, but no gunshot ever sounded. Instead Chris had lunged at K-mart who hadn't moved since the start of Chris's rant. He caught the teen by the arm and held the gun to her temple.

Alice couldn't believe her eyes. She'd managed to knock the redhead off balance enough so that Claire had to take a step out of the way of what she'd thought was a coming projectile. But it was K-mart who was in danger the entire time. At Chris's next answer, Alice knew why.

Claire was instantly in arms with unchecked rage. "Have you lost your goddamn mind?"

"I can't kill _her_," Chris responded with the false knowledge that something like a pact with the devil made Alice invincible, "but I can still cause her pain."

Hurting Claire seemed to be out of the question like killing Alice was, but Chris's irrational logic couldn't make out that murdering K-mart would do exactly that.

Alice's mind raced with thoughts of how to save the teen. She palmed the grip of her revolver, but she didn't think she'd be able to draw it quick enough.

Claire got her rage under control, knowing the direness of their situation. "Chris," she said coolly, "put the gun down."

He didn't do as the redhead requested, but his hesitation to just squeeze the trigger and be done with it was promising.

Alice's instinct to use her powers went into overdrive. All she had to do was break the trigger pin of Chris's semiautomatic. It was just like Isaacs's first test, the one she passed. Still, the one she failed played in her mind. With no infected blood in her veins to suppress the serum, test or not, it would be pointless.

She tried anyway. She had to. K-mart wasn't struggling or showing her fear though the brunette was certain she was terrified. K's bravery continued to astound her. The teen's steady look of trust, her complete faith in Alice's ability to save her meant Alice couldn't let her down.

If heroics were needed – then a hero was what she would be.

Alice looked away from K-mart to focus on the gun poised to take her young life. She stared at it, trying to call up the pressure in her skull. It wasn't working.

"You don't want to do this," Claire tried again.

Chris pushed the tip of the gun into the teen's head a little harder. "Don't I?"

"Chris, _please_," the redhead begged. "Please, just let her go."

In a moment of clarity the grip on K's arm loosened until he let go of her. Alice was flooded with relief and gave up trying and failing to use her mental powers as the teen ran to them. K-mart was only one step away from Claire when Chris snapped.

He aimed straight for the teen's back and gave a wild yell. "_No!_"

All at once Chris pulled the trigger as Alice's mind was overwhelmed with pressure, and her eyes dilated. The bullet fired from the gun and onto the path that would injure both K-mart and Claire, but then the 9millimeter round halted in mid-air.

Alice had never stopped a bullet before. Not even at the height of her power.

The teen made it into Claire's arms unharmed as Alice's nose began to bleed. Claire looked at her, astounded. Chris however grunted with frustration and dropped his gun as he ran at Alice.

She drew her revolver but didn't have enough time to aim or brace for the impact. The force of Chris's tackle sent the weapon from her hand as she hit the truck hard enough to blur her eyesight. She fell to the ground, gravel digging into her back as the man started to strangle her.

Her hands found his as she tried to pry them away from her throat. Wherever the burst of her superhuman ability had come from, it would not come again. She was losing her breath and her strength.

"Looks like maybe I can kill you after all," he laughed with vengeful joy.

Suddenly Chris was pitched off her with a booted kick to the face from Claire. The redhead had her gun trained on him, but she was hesitant to use it.

"Chris! Stop!" she demanded.

It had no effect.

Alice got to her feet as she coughed. She didn't realize that she'd just stepped into the path of Claire's semiautomatic. Chris came at her with a knife newly unsheathed. Alice saw the glint of steal but wasn't recovered enough to catch the downward thrust with her hand. Instead she caught the blade in her left forearm where it sliced through muscle and tendon.

She cried out at the pain, holding her elbow after Chris released the hilt with glee. Chris punched her in the face with a satisfied smirk. Alice took a step back to gather her resolve. She took a breath and now enraged, yanked the knife out intent to turn Chris's weapon against him.

The man avoided her swings, but Alice knew it was because she was striking out with rash fury. Her precision was lost to the anger. He got another hit in, this time a kick to the chin. She stumbled back again, and then Claire was there standing in front of her. The redhead still had gun in hand, but she held the other out to calm her brother.

"Stop it, Chris! Enough!"

Alice knew Chris wasn't going to quit unless one of them was dead.

The man tried to push Claire out of the way, but she didn't back down. She gave him a hard shove in return. To get past his sister he backhanded her to the ground.

Alice's nostrils flared as her teeth showed in a snarl. It was time to end this one way – or the other. She traded blows with the insane man, but he still avoided the knife. Alice kicked the side of his leg, and as he fell to one knee she saw her opportunity to kill him. She brought the blade up for a perfect stab into his exposed jugular… but hesitated. Alice couldn't kill Claire's brother. Not when all he wanted to do – and the only reason he was dangerous – was end her life in cold blood. She was no one to stand in the way of revenge. Alice hadn't interfered when Jill wanted it; she couldn't stop it now with Chris.

Her nonexistent follow-through allowed Chris to get to his feet and use the exact same move to bring Alice to her knee. She tried half-heartedly to defend herself, but he caught the empty hand clenched into a fist before it hit him and wrestled her to the ground again.

Between them was a struggle for the knife. They rolled a few times as it changed hands. But as Chris hovered over her when they came to a stop, Alice still ended up with possession of the knife – its black hilt sticking out of her stomach.

Alice gasped in pain as the blade was driven into her gut by a fumbled hand. The knife jostled in Chris's grip and cut more than just a simple stab would have. It was an effective attack nonetheless, more so with the twisting Chris managed.

Suddenly the fight was over. Chris smiled down on Alice until the butt of Claire's gun struck him in the back of the head. Before the unconscious man could fall on her, he was shoved to the side.

Claire cried out in alarm at what she discovered. "Alice!"

The brunette's hands circled around the blade, not close enough to touch the steal, yet still being drenched in the coppery smell of blood. The liquid soaked into her shirt and slipped through the crevices of her hands to slide off her torso. Claire dropped to her knees before giving the teen a strict order.

"K! In the glove compartment-" Claire didn't finish her instruction, the teen was already gone.

"Claire…" Alice tried to speak as the pain flooded her chest. "I'm sorry."

The redhead attempted a smile as she brushed back a strand of brown hair from Alice's face. "There's nothing to be sorry for."

"You know… I love you," Alice choked out the best she could.

Claire nodded as her weak smile fell to the beginning of defeat. The younger woman tore her eyes away when K-mart quickly kneeled beside her.

Alice's eyebrows knitted together as she looked at what the teen was giving Claire. The item now in the redhead's hand was one of her syringes. The redhead was filled with hope, but all Alice felt as Claire took the brunette's arm in her lap was despair.

Claire's fingers shook as she took the plastic cap off the needle. The redhead got a better grip on Alice's arm as she brought the syringe down.

"No," Alice commanded. "No, Claire." The redhead looked at her with utter confusion, but she gave pause. "It's… my time."

Alice couldn't count on her dormant infection to save her all the time. Not when she'd fought so hard to break the habit that just the night before had killed her.

She couldn't think of a better death. Alice kept the ones she loved alive, and they were both right by her side as she took her last breaths. She'd get to say her goodbyes and leave the world knowing that she had loved a fiery redhead and her silent charge. She'd get to know it was returned.

She had redemption in recreating the serum and by taking down the Umbrella Corporation. Her guilt, in the big scheme of things, didn't seem to matter so much. Claire had forgiven her, and K-mart did too. It was only right that she honor their love by letting go of the blame that drove her self-hate.

The pain was already lessening. It was a good death; it was the right death.

Claire's uncertainty went straight into anger and disbelief. "I refuse to let you die! Not when I can save you." Tears appeared in green eyes. "I can't live without you."

Alice swallowed to wet her throat. "That's… selfish."

"Like I care."

With that Claire plunged the needled into the brunette's arm before Alice could react. It was selfish for Claire to keep a syringe hidden from the brunette for this purpose, intent to use it even though Alice had just asked her not to. The infected blood flowed with the compressed plunger even as Alice's was pouring out.

Alice shut her eyes as the loss of her final request – a peaceful end to a full existence.

Instead her veins raced with molten liquid as her temperature skyrocketed. Of every death she'd imagined, and even experienced, this was the one she feared. Her mouth turned to ash causing her painful outcry to be silent.

Alice hardly felt Claire pull the knife from her abdomen or K take a bloody hand in hers. All she knew was heat and torture… until she didn't know either of those things.

The flames snuffed out and took with them her pain. For a moment she wasn't sure if she was alive or dead, but she opened her eyes to see Claire and K-mart smiling down at her.

She met Claire's eyes as she felt the wound both in her stomach and arm mend. Alice put her free hand on Claire's face, not realizing that it was covered in her own blood. She tried to pull back when she saw that she'd stained Claire's cheek red, but the woman held Alice's hand there with one of her own.

As much as Alice had accepted her own death, even welcomed it, she couldn't help the happiness she felt in knowing that she was still alive, that she could still be with Claire for however long she had. She'd make everyday count, teaching K-mart all she cared to know, helping the teen get un-grounded, letting her shadow talk sense to her when she was feeling unfounded guilt. Alice would kiss Claire, tell her everyday how much she meant to her, and love her more than that still.

The brunette smirked as she whispered to Claire, "I like you better when you're selfish."

Again, Alice had to have help to stand for the second time in two days. Claire led her inside to get her cleaned up, but before that could take place something had to happen with Chris.

The redhead hastily wiped the left side of her face with a wet rag. "I'm gonna get Chris into town. The old jail should…be fine." Claire sighed as Alice continued to lean against the counter behind her.

"I don't want you to take him in by yourself."

"I have to, Alice. He's my brother. He probably won't even wake up for hours."

The brunette didn't like it, but Claire was right. Chris needed to be somewhere secure, and him face down in the gravel outside the cabin was not. She couldn't imagine how Claire was feeling. Her own brother had gone homicidal and tried to kill two of the people she loved. Now, Claire was left to deal with the consequences.

Alice didn't know how deep Chris's madness ran, but until they found out – prison was the best place for him.

K-mart stayed behind with Alice as Claire got her brother into the Hummer and drove to town. The brunette tried to remain standing as she waited for Claire to return, but her muscles were weak.

She slid down the counter and to the floor as K-mart rushed to her.

"Alice! Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," she responded. "Just tired."

"Let's get you into bed then," the teen said as she smiled softly.

"No, I want to wait for Claire."

K crossed her arms over her chest after she sat next to Alice. "You're stubborn, you know that?"

Alice raised an eyebrow. "And you attract more trouble than the average teen should."

"Me?" K-mart asked in disbelief. "I'm pretty sure all the trouble I get into is because of you."

Alice looked off in contemplation, and a moment later gave a light chuckle. "I think you're right." The bear, the ship, Chris… all of it and more had Alice as the catalyst.

"I know I'm right," the teen said as she nudged Alice playfully. Then she commandeered the conversation from light banter. "But don't just think that means you get to feel guilty for everything."

Alice smirked at her shadow. "I don't."

"I had no idea Chris was… He said he just wanted to talk to Claire and asked for a ride."

The brunette shook her head as she said, "Don't worry about it, alright? You had no idea what he was coming here to do. It's possible even Chris didn't know. Maybe…" Alice smirked as she continued, "just don't be giving rides to boys anymore."

K-mart looked at Alice in shock. "Whoa, whoa – wait. Am I about to get 'the talk' 'cause Claire beat you to it."

_Why am I not surprised? _Alice wondered. "No," she laughed. "If Claire's done that then I guess I get to be the one who glowers and says that if they value their life you'll be home by 8:00."

K-'s jaw dropped. "8:00? Are you kidding me?"

"I am kidding… 8:30."

The teen was not amused, but Alice had to laugh. Light conversations like this were seldom for her, but she so enjoyed them. The idea of K-mart dating, honestly made her nervous, and though she was making jokes if the teen thought she would do anything but hurt anyone who hurt her, K was greatly mistaken. And Alice knew Claire would be the same… if not worse. Anyone brave enough to try and date K-mart would probably be the only one good enough for her. It was a day she was both looking forward to and dreading.

K-mart was still shaking her head in astonishment at Alice's laughter when they heard Claire drive up. The redhead hadn't been gone long, but Alice was thankful she was back.

Claire came in looking upset, but she put on a dim smile for the pair. K helped Alice stand until the redhead walked up to them to take over. With an arm around Claire's shoulder, Alice watched K-mart grin and give her a wink.

"I'm going back into town to pick up my boy."

"Wait!" Alice said panicked. "What boy?"

She hadn't thought K-mart was actually seeing anyone. If Claire knew about this boy and didn't tell Alice, the redhead was in trouble.

"He's cute, very affectionate…" K looked off to think, "and he kinda drools on me."

Alice had to turn her head away so the teen didn't see that she'd been fooled. K-mart noticed anyway.

"Paco and I'll be back at 8:30!" the teen said as she waved, and then walked out the front door.

Alice had to hand it to K-mart, for a second there the teen had her going. _Too smart for her own good, _Alice thought with a smirk.

"8:30?" Claire asked, confused.

The two walked back to kitchen table as Alice answered, "Her new curfew."

Claire didn't respond, but Alice understood the redhead had a lot on her mind. Alice lifted herself on the table to sit as Claire went into the bathroom down the hall to get what she'd need to clean the brunette.

Alice painstakingly peeled off her shirt, the dried blood made it stick to her skin. There were no longer any gashes from the knife, but her entire body was sore to the point that she could've claimed to be hit by a train sometime prior. Very soon her infection would burn off. She'd have to suffer through another detox, and she wasn't looking forward to it.

Claire walked up to her with a washcloth, bowl of warm water and a clean, black shirt. The younger woman seemed far away, no doubt thinking of what had transpired earlier.

Alice was unsure if she should say anything, but there was one thing nagging her. Claire set the bowl on the table next to Alice. After dipping the rag into it, she wrung the water from the fabric and settled her body between Alice's legs. The redhead started to wipe away the crimson flakes as Alice voiced her confusion.

"Why did you choose me?"

Claire stopped, met Alice's eyes and answered softly, "I love you."

Alice hadn't heard those words since before leaving Claire in the desert. Her head fell as she was overwhelmed with bittersweet emotion, but Claire lifted her chin with a gentle hand to kiss her. Family was a consequence of blood, but love was much rarer.

The brunette let the touch linger, instigating it and not, until Claire pulled away to finish what she was doing. Claire was gentle and unhurried, though she didn't have to be.

The brunette had to look down and smirk at the memory of all the times she'd been in this exact position for Claire – topless, wounded. It was as if Claire's words so long ago were true. All of Alice's injuries were just excuses to get naked and in bed. That was still never her intent, but she couldn't help the pleasurable result.

Claire had just cleaned the last of the blood so Alice reached for her other shirt. The brunette noticed the water rippling in the shallow bowl and couldn't help looking at her reflection in the pink-tinted water. The words 'monster' and 'demon' didn't come to mind. She put on her shirt as Claire continued to do nothing between her spread legs. Suddenly Alice felt the redhead's hands on her thighs as she pulled the fabric down.

Their eyes locked as Claire began to run her palms sensually up and down Alice's legs causing the brunette's heart to race. It wasn't long before her fingers tangled in long, red hair as she brought Claire in to kiss her. Passion fueled their movements, but it was both slow and loving. Alice wasn't sure how much she could handle, she was bordering on entirely done in, and close to catching fire from both Claire and her serum-filled veins.

Still, Alice managed to get Claire's shirt off and lavish the skin she found there with affection. The redhead, sensing Alice's fatigue, took control. Alice felt a hand at her pants button, and her breathing hitched. When Claire's fingers slipped past dark fabric the brunette moaned and hiked a leg around one of Claire's to give her better access.

The kissing didn't stop; neither did Claire's movements until Alice found all she could take and was sent into her release. Pleasure wasn't the only thing exuding from her in waves. A sudden torrent of heat, even higher in temperature than her arousal, shot through her.

The brunette wrapped her arms around Claire's neck after the woman pulled out.

"Alice?" Claire questioned. "What's wrong?"

Alice knew she had to say only one word, but it was still a struggle. "Inf-fection…"

Claire didn't speak as she picked Alice up off the table and walked her to their bed. Alice lost track of time to the heat as she lay on the mattress. It wasn't as painful as last time, but she couldn't keep doing this. She hoped that one, now empty syringe was the only one Claire had kept from her stash. Alice was tired of being more; she didn't want to be God, or monster, or virus. Eventually she lost consciousness, but she'd decided to talk to Claire about it next time she was able.

Alice woke to being naked underneath a blanket, but Claire completely clothed on top of them. She looked at the redhead lying in the dark beside her with an eyebrow raised in amused confusion.

"You were hot," Claire explained, "then you got cold after you fell asleep."

The brunette still wasn't quite convinced, especially when Claire added to her statement.

"Besides, I kinda like you naked and in bed."

Alice laughed before pulling Claire on top of her and kissing her.

The redhead stopped Alice before she could go too far. "Better slow down."

Alice ignored the warning, and she continued to kiss her way down the woman's jaw to her neck. "Why?"

"Cause if I'm not mistaken _someone_ gave K-mart a curfew, and she's due home any minute."

Alice immediately stopped her assault on Claire and berated herself. "Son of a bitch."

Now it was the redhead's turn to laugh, and Alice couldn't help joining in.

Their world was a far cry from what it was. Alice had a hand in its destruction, but in her other hand was its salvation. If Claire or K-mart's life were on the line those hands would become fists, no matter the consequence to her soul.

Beth, Ryan, AJ and the rest of her clones had all given or lost their lives because of Alice. Even the friends that had come to save her in Detroit were dead because of her. It was a world without heroes because she'd somehow killed them all. She suggested the martyrdom, she murdered the knight, she gave the moral copy of herself her destiny, and she led her army to their slaughter. Yet their deeds left marks on her.

K-mart's bravery, her sense and inquisitiveness was enough to make Alice question herself. Claire's drive in the face of despair to help those who couldn't help themselves, her forgiveness and love was enough to break into Alice's heart. The pair caused Alice to second guess her heart, something she was certain was gone before the redhead returned it to her.

Now, Alice knew exactly who she was. She couldn't give herself the label of hero, not when she'd been calling herself villain. But she would still accept it if the people she loved told her otherwise.

They somehow managed to tell her every day.

**Thanks for reading. Until next time.**


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